Kashmir and Kashghar. A narrative of the journey of the embassy to Kashghar in 1873-74

GIFT OF

HORACE Wo CARPENTER

KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR

PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY
EDINBURGH AND LONDON

KASHMIE AND KASHGHAE

A NAEEATIYE

OF

THE JOUENEY OF THE EMBASSY TO
KASHGHAE IN 1873-74.

BY

H. W. BELLEW, C.S.I.

SURGEON-MAJOR, BENGAL STAFF CORPS,

Author of " Journal of a Mission to Kandahar in 1857-58?

" Grammar and Dictionary of the Pukkhto Language"

" From the Indus to the Tigris" S*c.

LONDON:
TRUBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL.

1875.
[All rights reserved.]

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

PAGE

Steppe Country — Agricultural Settlements — Natural Productions
— Prevalent Diseases — Climatic Influence — Ancient Inhabitants
— Early Conquest by China — Conversion to Islam — Invasion by
Mughol — Campaigns of Tymur — The Mughol Khans — Expedi-
tion into Tibat — The Khoja Usurpation — Tungani Rebellion —
AtalikGhazi ....... 1

CHAPTER I.

Preparation for the March — Halt at Murree — Departure from Murree
— The Nara or " Cord " Rope Bridge — Manner of Using It — An
Incident of Camp Life — The Jhfola or " Swing Bridge " — Valley
of the Jhelam River — The " Costum " of the Ancients — Ruins
of Ancient Temples — The Kaddal Bridge . . .33

CHAPTER II.

Visit from Diwan Badri Nath — River View of Srinaggar — Character
of the Architecture— Scenes on the River Banks — Floating Gardens
of the Dall.— The Death of " Jingo "—Visit to the Maharaja-
Banquet in the Ranbir Bagh — The Kashmir Bayadere — A Review
of the Kashmir Garrison — Departure from Srinaggar Delayed —
Story of a Pilgrim . . . . . . .57

CHAPTER III.

Visit to a Silk Filature — The Maharaja visits the Envoy — March
away from Srinaggar — The Valley of the Sind River — Mountain
Scenery at Sona Marg— Pass from Kashmir to Tibat— Crossing
of the Zojila Pass — Winter Quarters in Kashmir — Change of
Climate and Scene — The Bhot Gpgly — Abandoned Gold Diggings
— Polo at Kargil — Dress of the Bhot Peasant — Buddhist Religious
Buildings— Deserted Village . . . . .83

A oo a ,*

vi CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV.

r PAGE

The Lammas of Lammayuru — Life in a Lammasary — Buddhism
and Polyandry — Reception by Bhot Villagers — Avalanche of
Stones— The Raven and Rock Martin— Stalk a Herd of Gazelles—
Bhotmo Toilette— Arrive at Leh— Warm Clothing for the Passes
— A Day at Hemis Gonpa — Interior of Buddhist Temple — Decayed
State of Buddhism — Mughol Invaders of Tibat — A Day after Wild
Sheep 113

CHAPTER V.

Ascent of Khardong Pass— March in a Fall of Snow— The Nubra
Valley— Hot Springs at Panamik— The Carawal Dawan— A lucky
Shot— The Glaciers of Saser— Instinct of the Yak— The Kumdan
Glaciers— Effects of rarefied atmosphere— Camp at Daulut Beg
Uldi— The Effects of Dam— History of Sa'id Khan— His Escape
to Kabul— Shares Kashghar with his Brother— The Caracoram
pass_The Kanjud Robbers— Frozen Snipe on the Willow Pass
—Meet our Yarkand Allies . . . . -144

CHAPTER VI.

Visit to the Shrine — Departure from Shahidulla — Route down the
Caracash Valley— The Shrine of Ababakar— Revolt of the Kirghiz

Career of Sayyid Ali — Recovers Government of Kashghar

—Anarchy follows his Death— Ababakar usurps the Govern-
ment_Character of Ababakar— Approach to Sanju Pass— Rough
Ground and Obstructions— A Block on the Pass— Sudden Snow-
storm—Fall of an Avalanche— Benighted in the Snow— Arrival
at Sanju. .... • 183

CHAPTER VIL

Reception and Dasturkhwan— Character of the Country— The Mir
of Sanju— Receipt of the Atalik's Letter— Character of Rustic
Life— Our Rest House at Karghalik— Frequency of Goitre— A
Novel Military Salute— Entry into Yarkand— Reception in the
City— Visit to the Dadkhwah— His Reception of the Envoy —
Turkish Bath in the City— Afghans in Kashghar . . .219

CONTENTS. vii

CHAPTER VIII.

PAGE

History of Yarkand City — Political Factions of the Country — Time
of the Chinese Rule — The Tungani Rebellion — Interior of the
City — Variety of its Inhabitants — Interior of a Restaurant — Mar-
ket-day and Week-day — A Round of the Shops — Cradle Life of
Tatar Babies — Russian Covers and English Interiors — The Iron-
monger's Shop — Institutions of the City — Relics of Chinese Occu-
pation— The Andijan Caravansary — The City Magistrate on Tour
— Decline of Prosperity ...... 249

CHAPTER IX.

Departure from Yarkand — The Atalik's Life Guards — Arrival at
Yangi Hissar — Approach to Kashghar — Reception by Atalik
Ghazi — The Ceremony of His Court — Features of the Atalik —
His Character — Our Residency at Kashghar — Appreciation of the
Telegraph — Ruins of Ancient Kashghar — Building of the Pre-
sent City — Its Mixed Population — Exercise of Chinese Troops —
Fate of the Chinese Garrisons — Chinese Converts to Islam — Dress
of the Andijan Soldier ..... 285

CHAPTER X.

The Shrine of Hazrat Afac — Account of the Khojas — Revival of
Islam — Working of Miracles — Dinner with Haji Tora — Party at
the Residency— The Shrine of " Lady Mary "—Legend Connected
Therewith — Reception at Artosh — History of Satoc Baghra Khan
— His Conversion to Islam— Death of Satoc — Sport with the
Hunting Eagle— A Day after Wild Boar— On the Skirts of the
Tianshan— Camp Amongst the Kirghiz— Bash Sughun— Islam
and the Chinese Rule . . 320

CHAPTER XL

Visit to the Heir Apparent— Tolerant Character of the Natives — De-
parture from Kashghar — Departure of the Wakhan Party — Sud-
den Change of Season— A Monastery in the Desert— The Sands
of the Desert— Cities Buried under Sand— Shrine of Ordain
Padshah — History of 'Ali Arslan Khan — His Death and Burial
— Sudden Change of Seasons — Benefits of our Stay at Kashghar
— Opium Smokers — Experiences of a Panjabi Trader — Prospects
of Trade . . 356

viii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XII.

PAGE

Departure from Yarkand— The Kokyar Route— " The White Mosque"
— March up the River Tiznaf — The Pakhpu Highlanders — Peri-
odical Floods — Passage of Yangi Dawan — Mountains Spread into
Plateaux— View from the Top of the World— Difficult Bit of
Road— Return to Civilisation — Reception at Leh — Reflections and
Comparisons — Funeral of Dr Stoliczka . . . 388

PREFACE.

THE region lying immediately beyond the northern
frontier of our Indian Empire and comprehensively
designated Chinese Tartary, has during the last quarter
of a century, from time to time, attracted the attention
of Europe, owing to the steady extension of the Eussian
dominion upon its northern borders. This attention, at
no time very fixed upon the mind of the public, received
a fresh impetus by the events and issues of that remark-
able revolution which in 1862-63 severed the connec-
tion of this region from the rest of the Chinese Empire,
and in the following years led to the conquest of its
southern portion by a successful adventurer from an
adjoining principality.

It has now for us acquired a special interest, no less
by reason of the intercourse which, in the efforts to
develop a trade in that direction, has sprung up between
us in India and the ruler of this newly-constituted state
of Central Asia, than by that of the peculiar relations in
which he stands to his Russian neighbour. And the
questions naturally arise — What is the new principality
of Kashghar ? And who is its founder Atalik Ghazi ?

It is not my purpose in these pages to enter on the
theme of Central Asian politics, nor to attempt an in-
vestigation of the causes which have conduced to the

6

vi PREFACE.

successful establishment of a new Muhammadan state on
the ruins of the Chinese rule in this part of the Asiatic
Continent ; nor yet to inquire into the motives for the
revival of a decayed Islam in this extreme limit of the
Musalman polity of Central Asia. Neither is it any
part of my purpose in these pages to discuss the merits,
or question the wisdom of one line -of policy over an-
other, in respect to the relations we are by force of
neighbourhood involved In with the several states of
Central Asia.

These subjects have each and all of them a special
interest, but of a nature much too important to be
cursorily treated in the course of a popular narrative of
travel in the region of their development. It will suffice,
for the information of the general reader, simply in this
place to review in brief terms some of the principal
events which have combined to draw us into friendly
relations with the successful usurper, whom fortune has
drawn from the obscurity of his own home of discord
and dismemberment to figure in the light of a conqueror,
and with a fame which has been noised over the world
more by the force of fortuitous circumstances, than
through any individual merits of his own.

That great Muhammadan revival which, during the
past sixteen or eighteen years, has disturbed the peace of
the Chinese Empire to the extent of seriously threatening
the stability of its ancient regime, and which from time
to time has been brought to the notice of the western
world under the different names of Tayping rebellion
(by some considered a Christian movement), Panthay
insurrection, and Tungani revolution, according to the
several peoples promoting it in the different parts of the
Empire, though resulting in various issues in the several
provinces, was of uniform character so far as concerned

PREFACE. vii

the persistent efforts of the rebels to subvert the consti-
tuted government in favour of their own advancement
to the supreme control of affairs. Or, in other words, to
supplant on the soil of China the state religion of Budha
by the majesty of Islam — the doctrine of Muhammad.

In this place it concerns us only to trace very briefly
the progress and consequences of that widespread move-
ment in the westernmost frontier province of the
Empire — the province which has been made familiar to
Europeans under the name of Eastern or Chinese Tur-
kistan — and to describe the origin of our intercourse
and relations with the present ruler of that portion of
the region comprised in the territory of Kashghar.

Chinese Tartary under the imperial government com-
prised the two main divisions of Zunghar, or Mugholistan,
and Kashghar, or Eastern Turkistan, on the north and
south respectively of the intersecting range of the Tian
Shan or "Celestial Mountains." It constituted the pro-
vincial government of Ila, which was administered by a
viceroy whose seat was at the capital, called Ghulja or
Kuldja.

The northern division was called by the Chinese Tian
Shan Peh Lu, or "The way north of the Celestial
Mountains," and the southern division was similarly
called Tian Shan Nan Lu, or "The way south of the
Celestial Mountains."

The first of these has lapsed in great part from China
to Russia, and the former viceregal capital of Ila is now
a Russian garrison town, linked by telegraph to St
Petersburg ; whilst the most important part of Zunghar
is now an integral portion of the Russian dominion in
Asia, the boundary of which in this direction marches
directly with that of Kashghar, and is, in fact, immedi-
ately in contact with its people through the nomad

x PREFACE.

in the western towns by the Khoja family of Khocand,
had raised it to a pitch of prosperity and wealth such as
it had not known since the decline of the Chaghtay rule
in the fourteenth century, now found themselves without
a recognised leader, and with no definite plan of opera-
tion, nor any acknowledged object of attainment.

In this state of aimless confusion their chiefs fell to
quarrelling amongst themselves, and being men who
had always occupied a subordinate position, and who
were without the talents requisite for command and
organisation, they very soon succumbed to the ambition
of more able heads and stronger minds.

First and foremost amongst these last was the chief of a
numerous family of Muhammadan divines, which had for
several centuries been settled at Kucha as the hereditary
custodians of a very sacred shrine in the city suburbs,
dedicated to the perpetuation of the memory of some
early martyr to the cause of the faith in these distant
lands, who had been canonised for his services in the
propagation of Islam.

This family of priests had, from the sacred nature of
their calling, and the influential position by common
consent accorded to them in society, acquired a con-
siderable control over the minds of the people through
the agency of their spiritual offices ; and, though amply
provided for in respect to temporal requirements by
very liberal grants of rent free lands, they did not neglect
such opportunities as the circumstances of their position
offered to increase the stock of their worldly possessions
pari passu with that of their spiritual control; and at
the time of this revolution they were, in point of wealth
and influence, the foremost of the Chinese subjects resi-
dents of Kucha, independently of the rank they held in
society as Khojas. The term Khoja, it may be here*.

PREFACE'. ;xi

noted, means' ".gentleman," and is applied as a title to I
wealthy merchants and divines of a certain recognised \
position, much in the same manner as we employ the
terms " esquire" and "reverend." .

The head of this Kucha family was one Eashuddin or
Eashiduddin. He took the leading part in the control
of affairs immediately after the overthrow of the Chinese
authority, and appointing the different members of his
family to the several local governments, now deprived
of their proper officials, very speedily secured the Tun-
gani — a scattered flock of sheep without a shepherd — as
his easy tools for the establishment of an independent
Khoja kingdom under his own sovereign control as
king.

So sudden was the overthrow of the Chinese rule, and
so indifferent were the people as to their successors in the
government, that Eashuddin, in the course of a few short
months, and without any serious opposition, was acknow-
ledged king ; and as such received the zakat and 'ushar
from all the country between Yarkand and Turfan, the
several district governments of which were held by a
host of his sons, nephews, and other relations ; though
not everywhere with that concord of action and unison
of sentiment which is necessary for successful admini-
stration.

But whilst Eashuddin in the north was consolidating
his authority over the states that had acknowledged his
rule, the states of Khutan on the south and Kashghar on
the west had already passed into the possession of two
other adventurers, whom the circumstances of the time:
and locality had brought to the front as leaders, and set
at the head of affairs in their respective places.

These were the Mufti Habibulla, an aged priest of
Khutan, who had recently returned from a pilgrimage to

xii PREFACE.

Mecca with enlarged ideas of the world beyond the
limited horizon of his own secluded home, and Sadie
Beg, a barbarous nomad, the freebooter chief of the
Kirghiz of Kashghar.

The country was divided between these three self-
constituted rulers, when, in the first days of 1865, Khoja
Buzurg Khan, the lineal descendant of the Khoja Afac,
issuing from his retreat in Khocand, crossed the Tarik
Dawan passes to essay the recovery of the throne of his
ancestors. At the time he set out on this expedition he
was in the camp of the Khocand ruler, 'Alim Culi, who
had usurped the government from Khudayar, the rightful
Khan, and was at this juncture at the head of his troops
and partisans opposing the Eussian advance against
Tashkand. The Capchac leader, little reckoning the
power of his mighty foe, encouraged the enterprise of
the Khoja in the hope of reasserting the Khocand influ-
ence in the western states of Kashghar, and dismissed
him with best wishes for his success.

'Alim Culi, under the circumstances pressing, could
not spare any of his troops for service with the Khoja,
but appointed one of his trusty lieutenants and firm ad-
herents to accompany Buzurg Khan as military com-
mandant of such troops as he might raise at Khocand ;
whither the two repaired from Tashkand, in November
1864, to complete the arrangements for their enterprise
against Kashghar.

Buzurg Khan set out from Khocand towards the close
of the year with a following of only sixty-six men under
the command of Ya'cub Beg, Baturlashi, or " Leader
of the Braves " (the lieutenant lent by 'Alim Culi), an
Uzbak of Piskat near Tashkand, who had successively
held the rank of Coslibegi or "Lord of a shire" under
the governments of Mallah Khan, Khudayar Khan, and

PREFACE. xiii

'Alim Culi in Khocand. On arrival at Khashghar the
Khoja was welcomed by the people as a deliverer — for
they were reduced to the extremity of despair under the
oppression of the hungry Sadie, and the violent excesses
of his lawless Kirghiz — and he was forthwith established
in the palace as king. His first act was to appoint his
Baturbashi to the restoration of order in the city, and
the organisation of an army from amongst the Khocand
and Afghan residents found within it.

It is unnecessary here to follow in detail the career of
this remarkable character, nor that of his master, the
Khoja Buzurg Khan. An account of his life, compiled
from such information as I was able to collect during
our stay in the country, has been submitted to govern-
ment with my " Historical Sketch of Kashghar, and
General Description of the Country." Suffice it to say
that the latter, true to the character of his fraternity,
on the realisation of so readily conceded a throne, at
once made over the conduct of affairs to his general, and
himself straightway launched out into a course of unre-
strained debauchery^and licentiousness; whilst the other
— his Baturbashi — prompted by the instincts of his
ambitious nature, and fortified by the experience acquired
during the vicissitudes of a quarter of a century of usur-
pations, discords, strifes, and contentions which had
been the lot of his life in his own country, took advan-
tage of the opportunity to seize the government for
himself, and gradually to extend his authority over
the whole country as the " champion of Islam," under
the religious title of " Atalik Ghazi" — a career in which
he was favoured by the circumstances of the time ;
namely, the weakness of the Pekin government on the
one side, and the occupation of the Eussians on the other.

It was about this period — the arrival of the Khocand*

xiv PREFACE.

or Andijan party, in' the country — tliat news of the'
revolution in Kashghar came dribbling across the passes
into India with the caravans of the petty traders of
Yarkand and Khutan. For these men now flocked over
into Kashmir in greater numbers than before, as those
of Kashghar, Acsu, and the other northern cities of the
territory resorted to the Russian markets in that direc-
tion, to procure the commodities of which they had been
deprived so suddenly by the abrupt severance of their
communications with China.

The appearance of these foreign traders in the Pan-
jab, and their glowing account of the requirements of
their country, now cut off from its natural source of
supplies by the overthrow of the government of which
they had heretofore been the subjects, soon secured for
them the interest and support of some commercial friends
on the line of their route, with the view of creating a
trade with the countries on the north of the Himalaya.

As a result of the representations made on this sub-
ject, the government in 1866 established the Palampur
fair, with a very liberal outlay, to encourage the develop-
ment of trade with Central Asia by the route through
Little Tibat. The Yarkand traders appear to have
appreciated its advantages, and their professions of good-
will and gratitude for the cordial reception accorded
them were by some viewed in a hopeful light as sure
prognostics of the early development of a really profit-
able trade with a region supposed to be of vast extent,
and represented as teeming with a population of scores
of millions of people who wanted tea, and cottons, and
many other stuffs which they could not now procure
through the usual channels of supply; and for which they
were dependent upon us, if we would but exert ourselves
to meet their wants, and reap, by way of reward for

PREFACE. xv

our trouble, clear profits of from fifty to seventy-five
per cent., as were already realised by the petty traders
—Sikh and Afghan — from the Panjab on the small
ventures carried over the passes by them.

For on this route, unlike those through the territories
of our western neighbours of Balochistan and Afghanis-
tan, there were no claimants of blackmail, whose fellows
> robbed and murdered you even after paying the demands
of the hungry crew ; but there were risks of another kind.
The trader by this route had more to dread from the
dangers and difficulties of the country than from the
attacks of banditti or the depredations of tax-collectors ;
and the loss of a few fingers or toes from frost-bite, with
the death of a greater or less number of cattle from the
toils of the journey and the inhospitable nature of the
region and climate, were the worst of the hazards he had
to provide against.

Stimulated, however, by the tempting prospects of so
handsome a profit, and encouraged by the free access
afforded to the new market, some native traders essayed
the journey, and returned satisfied with the success of
their operations. In 1868, following this, the trade
received a fresh impetus by the journey of an enterpris-
ing tea-planter who, emerging from the seclusion of his
little plantation in Kangra, took a selected assortment
of goods to Yarkand.

Mr E. B. Shaw has given to the world a most in-
teresting account of his journey to and experiences in
the country, and has pourtrayed the peculiar character-
istics of the people — so different from those of India —
with a singular fidelity; but he has hardly done justice
to the natural obstacles of the country, nor clearly
pointed out the impracticable difficulties of the passes
as a trade route at any time. And whilst laying stress

xvi PREFACE.

on the very natural anxiety of- Atalik Ghazi (whose
family had become Eussian subjects, and whose native
country had "for ever" passed within the territories
of the Russian Empire, even before he had estab-
lished himself in the position he had usurped from
the master he was sent to serve; whilst his troops
were either Russian subjects, or those of the Khan
restored by that Power to his throne in Khocand) for an
alliance with, and recognition by the British Govern-
ment, he has enlarged on the grand prospects of a
commercial intercourse with the country whose markets
had been already, in the time of the Chinese rule, stocked
by Russian merchants. And he has betrayed, by the com-
placent endurance of the rigid restrictions of the close
imprisonment imposed upon him during the six months
of his stay in the country, an amount of enthusiasm for
the cause of his adoption which may serve to explain in
some measure the omission to note certain facts as to
the population and resources of the country, and the pe-
culiar conditions of its political existence, which under
more favourable circumstances must have prominently
arrested the attention of the traveller.

Mr Shaw and Mr Hayward, the latter of whom ven-
tured to explore the country in the cause of geographical
science, entered the country together from the south at
the very time that Captain Rein thai and some Russian
merchants, escorted by a party of Cossacs, entered it
from the north. They were detained in their progress
to the court of Atalik Ghazi till the Russian officer had
concluded the business he had been sent to negotiate,
and were then conducted to Kashghar as Mr Shaw has
described in his well-known book.

Messrs Shaw and Hayward were not the first Euro-
peans who in recent years have penetrated to Kashghar

PREFACE. xvii

from our side of the passes. The interest of the British
public in the countries of Tartary was first revived in
recent times by the enterprise of that learned scientific
traveller, Adolphe Schlagentweit, who, in 1857, pene-
trated to Kashghar and, arriving there during the revolt
raised by the rebel Khoja Wali Khan, fell an unfor-
tunate victim of that bloodthirsty tyrant's madness.

In 1865 Mr W. K. Johnson, of the Great Trigono-
metrical Survey, whilst working on the frontier of the
territory of the Maharaja of Kashmir, descended the
Tibat highlands to the northward, and in September —
October of that year visited Khutan as the guest of its
new king, Habibulla Padshah, at the time that Atalik
Ghazi was yet the Coshbegi Ya'cub Beg in command of
the troops of the Khoja Buzurg Khan installed as king at
Kashghar, and was on his behalf contesting the possession
of Yarkand against the party holding it for Eashuddin
of Kucha. Following Mr Shaw's return to India in
1869, came Mirza Shadi, as envoy (the capacity in which
he had the year before proceeded to the Kussian capital)
from Atalik Ghazi to the Viceroy. He returned in 1870
with Mr Forsyth's mission, of which Dr Geo. Henderson
and Mr Shaw were the other members. Dr Henderson
has given us an account of this journey, of the difficul-
ties they encountered on the road, and the disasters that
befell their baggage. Yet notwithstanding these hin-
drances he has, much to his credit, with the able aid of
his co-author Mr Hume, and other coadjutors, enhanced
the interest of his work by a valuable illustration of the
ornithology and botany of the regions the party traversed.
But he has besides — and this is what interests us here —
introduced us to Cazi Ya'cub Khan, the future envoy
with whom I shall hope to make my readers better
acquainted in the following narrative as Haji Tora.

xviii PREFACE.

The return of Mr Forsyte's party to India after a very
brief stay at Yarkand, was followed by the arrival of
Ahrar Khan, Tora, as envoy from Atalik Ghazi to the
Viceroy; and the reception at Kashghar of the Eussian
embassy under Baron Kaulbars for the negotiation of a
commercial treaty. A few months after the departure
of the Eussians, satisfied with the adjustment of their
business, Ahrar Khan returned to Kashghar from his
mission to India, and immediately, in November 1872,
our friend Sayyid Ya'cub Khan — the Cazi of Dr Hen-
derson's narrative — was despatched as the envoy of
Atalik Ghazi to the Viceroy of India and the Sultan of
Turkey. And this brings us to the despatch of the
British Embassy to Kashghar in 1873-74.

With the works of Mr Shaw and Dr Henderson already
before the public, it may be considered a presumption on
my part to obtrude with a further account of a country
already so fully described by them; but being convinced of
the importance to us of the latest and freest information
regarding the countries beyond our Indian possessions in
that direction, the more especially on account of the mag-
nitude of the interests involved by the character of the
policy — whatever it may be — which our statesmen may
adopt towards the yet independent states of Central
Asia, I venture to hope that even the smallest item
added to the stock of knowledge already made public
concerning the state of society and civilisation, the his-
tory and resources — natural and industrial — of these
states, and especially of the new addition to their num-
ber by the establishment of the independent Khanate of
Kashghar, may not be unacceptable ; particularly since
the affairs of those distant and inaccessible regions, at
this time more than ever, claim an unusual interest as
much amongst .the Continental nations of Europe as

PREFACE. xix

amongst our insular public, and our Indian subjects who
are so close to the theatre of their progress.

"With this intent therefore — eschewing the discussion
of politics as being beyond the purpose before me, and
avoiding a repetition of what has been already told by
my predecessors on this field of travel — I venture to
offer a plain account of the journey and experiences of
the embassy to Kashghar in 1873-74, with such matters
of interest regarding the people and the country as our
opportunities enabled us to obtain.

Finally, in committing my book to the notice of the
public, I have only to add that, it has been put together
at odd hours in the midst of a holiday after three years
of continuous hard work of a varied and onerous nature,
and under circumstances depriving me of reference to
records and authorities.

H. W. B.

ALGIERS, 28th March 1875.

KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

INTRODUCTION.

BEFORE taking the reader across the passes, a brief intro-
ductory notice of the country beyond them will in this
place, for convenience' sake, be advisable in order to
avoid digression from the narrative of the journey. We
will, therefore, proceed in brief words to remind the
reader of the geographical position and physical charac-
teristics of that region, and set before him a short notice
of its peoples, and the principal events of their past
history.

The territory of the Khanate of Kashghar which, in
the time of the Arab conquest, was known as Kichik
Bukhara or " Little Bukhara," and in that of the Chagh-
tay rulers as Mugholistan or " Mughol-land," has been
in modern times made familiar to European readers
under the names of Eastern or Chinese Turkistan or
" Turk-land." It comprehends the basin of the Tarim
river in all its extent, and runs east and west between
the parallel ranges of the Tianshan and Kuenlun moun-
tains on the north and south respectively. On the west it
is separated from the corresponding basin of the Oxus —
the Khanate of Bukhara — by the range of the Bolor moun-
tains and Pamir steppes, which, extending north and
south, connect the other two mountain barriers. And on

A

KASHGHAR.

the east, beyond Turfan on the north and Chachan on
the south, it is limited by the Great Desert of Gobi.

Within these boundaries the country presents a vast
undulating plain of which the slope is very gradual
towards the east, and of which the general elevation may
be reckoned at from three to four thousand feet above
the sea. The aspect of its surface is mostly one of unmi-
tigated waste — a vast spread of bare sand and glaring
salts, traversed in all directions by dunes and banks of
gravel, with the scantiest vegetation, and all but absence
of animal life. Such is the view that meets the eye and
joins the horizon everywhere on the plain immediately
beyond the river courses and the settlements planted on
their banks.

The mountain ranges bounding three sides of the
territory are amongst the loftiest in the world, and their
highest recesses are filled by glacier masses of greater or
less magnitude. These last, on the north and south, are
the feeders of the principal rivers of the country ; and
in the summer season cause their swelled streams to over-
flow the low banks of the sandy channels in which they
run. The rivers all issue from these mountain barriers
at intervals on the three sides of the enclosed area, and,
following a more or less easterly course, converge towards
the mid plain. And at different spots on its surface they
coalesce to form the Tarim river, which becomes lost in a
wide stretch of swamps and lagoons known by the name
of Lob, and described as covering an area of from three
to four months' journey in circuit. Little is known of
this vast tract more than that it is the nest of a wild race
of outcast people who shun the society of their fellow-
men, and contest the shelter of the forests and reed belts
with their more natural denizens — the wild hog, panther,
tiger, and wolf. Beyond the lagoons is an unexplored

STEPPE COUNTRY. 3

waste of blindingly bright salts, untraversable to all but
the wild camel, which, in its solitudes and freedom, breeds
and lives and dies a stranger to the toils and slavery
of his domesticated brother.

Owing to the nature of the country, and the sterility
of its soil, the population is massed at isolated intervals
bordering the mountain skirts along the banks of the
several rivers where they issue upon the plain. They
thus form separate settlements or states, separated each
from the other by a greater or less expanse of blank
desert, which is composed mostly of sand and gravel,
with a varying proportion of salines.

Cut off from each other as their several settlements
thus are, they form within themselves, for the purposes
of support, government, and defence, independent little
societies, which are confederated within the general area
of the country into one or more leagues or factions,
according as the political interests of the several com-
munities are influenced by the vicissitudes of the times,
and the disturbing effects of changing dynasties. Each
of these separate states or settlements has a central
fortified capital, around which spread the suburbs, and
beyond these again the rural districts and townships,
according to the facilities for irrigation and cultivation.

There are altogether thirteen such isolated settlements
within the Kashghar territory, exclusive of the highland
district of Wakhan and Sarighcul — the Sarikol of the
maps — whose Aryan population are of a different stock
and language to the Turk and Tartar of the rest of the
territory ; and they contain the whole of the settled
population of the country. Of these, Yarkand is by far
the largest and most populous settlement. It was the
seat of government under the Chinese who, for revenue
purposes, reckoned its population at 32,000 houses, of

4 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

which about a fourth were allotted to the city and
suburbs.

Under the present regime these settlements may be
considered as reduced to seven provincial governments,
each administered by a Dadkhwah, or "magistrate,"
who is under the direct orders of the Khan alone.
• They are, in the order of their succession from the
south round to the north and east, Khutan including
Chachan, Yarkand, Kashghar with Yangi Hissar and
Maralbashi, Acsu and Uch Turfan, Kucha, Kurla, Ca-
rashahar including Lob, and Turfan or Kuhna Turfan,
" Old Turfan," as it is called, to distinguish it from the
little agricultural settlement of the same name adjoin-
ing Acsu.

In general appearance these settlements wear a look of
great prosperity and plenty. They are veritable oases in
a dreary and arid desert, and produce within their seve-
ral areas all the requisites for the independent support,
so far as food and clothing are concerned, of their normal
populations ; but they are incapable of sustaining the
strain of a largely increased demand.

Cultivation is entirely dependent on the water supply.
And this, owing to the small calibre of the rivers, is limited
in extent. What there is, however, is utilised to the
best advantage, and spread over the cultivated tracts in
numerous canals and irrigation cuts, whether fed from
the rivers or from springs.

The rural population is settled along the courses of
these streams in detached farmsteads, usually composed
of a cluster of three or four tenements together, which are
surrounded by their own fields, vineyards, ,orchards and
plantations. These farmsteads radiate from the city
suburbs in all directions quite to the verge of the culti-
vated tracts, where they end on the edge of the desert ;

AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS. 5

and in some localities they form an unbroken spread of
trees, fields, and houses that stretch for a distance of from
ten to fifteen miles along the course of the larger canals.

To the traveller approaching from the desert, in the
spring season, the first appearance of one of these settle-
ments conveys the idea of dense population and profuse
abundance ; but on entering within the charming area
the reality soon discloses itself to his observation. He
finds that the mass of tall foliage, so attractive by reason
of its refreshing verdure, is very largely that of unpro-
ductive trees — except of fuel, timber, and shade — such
as the willow, poplar, and elm ; whilst the other most
common trees, such as the mulberry, walnut, and
ekeagnus, are not so valuable a source of food — however
useful in other respects — as trfe less obtrusive and more
carefully tended apple, apricot, plum, and vine. He
will find that the houses of the people are widely and
sparsely scattered, and dot the surface at such intervals
that scarcely fifty are within the range of sight all round,
at a radius of from one to two miles. Between them,
he will note that the patches of field and garden produce
wheat, barley, maize, and rice, cotton, flax, and hemp,
as well as tobacco, melons, lucerne, and pulse, and all
the vegetables of an English kitchen garden.

The list is long, but the out-turn is not in proportion ;
for he will learn, on inquiry, that vegetation in this
region only flourishes between April and October, and
that the produce of six months has to feed the people for
twelve, and that without the aid of external supplies.
These circumstances, coupled with the extent and nature
of the several settlements, perforce limit the population
capable of being supported in each, and reduce the
numbers very far below the figures heretofore received
as representing the inhabitants of this territory.

6 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

During our stay in the country I made careful inquiry
on this subject, and have come to the conclusion that
the population of the territory of Kashghar, as before
defined, including the nomade Kirghiz subjects of the
Khan, and the hill tribes of Muztagh and Sarighcul,
taken all together, is considerably less than a million
and a half of souls. In fact, the whole region is as waste
and uninhabited as it looks upon the map.

It is not, however, devoid of some natural productions
of great value, and contains within itself a store of
mineral treasures which might be made a source of very
considerable wealth. It was the knowledge of this fact
that induced the Chinese to cling so perseveringly to this
distant and expensive frontier province of their empire.
Under their rule the gold mines and jade quarries of
Khutan, the copper mines of Khalistan, and the silver and
lead mines of Cosharab, gave employment and support to
thousands of families of Chinese emigrants and Tartar
colonists. The coal of Acsu and Kuhna Turfan was, in
their time, the common fuel of every household in those
parts of the territory. The iron of Kizili furnished them
a supply for the manufacture of domestic utensils ; whilst
the sulphur of Kalpin and the alum, sal ammoniac, and
zinc of the volcanic region north of Acsu — the Khan
Khura Tagh — afforded the materials for the prosecution
of several industrial pursuits, and supplied the wants of
the dyers, and tanners, and other such native industries.

The animal productions of the country were mostly
obtained through the huntsmen of Lob, who bartered
stags' horns, swans' down, otter skins, and other furs,
including tiger and panther skins, for corn, cottons, tea,
and cutlery. The wool of Turfan and the musk of
Khutan were exported to Kashmir, the one for the
manufacture of its peculiar shawls, the other for the drug

NATURAL PRODUCTIONS. 7

market of India. The sheep, horses, oxen, and camels
met the wants of home use and consumption, and were
bartered by the Kirghiz for silks, cottons, tea, and
cutlery. The wild camel of the Lob desert, the tiger of
the Maralbashi forests, and the mardl, or " stag," of the
same locality, the wild hog of the reed belts bordering
the rivers, the gazelle of the desert, and the antelope of
the mountains, the wild horse and wild sheep (ovis Poli)
of the lower hills, and the wild yak- or cutds (bos grun-
niens) of the snowy ranges were objects of the chase to
the hunter in their several vicinities ; whilst, similarly,
the pheasant, partridge, and hare, with the sand grouse
and wild duck on the plains, and the snow pheasant
and francolin on the hills, afforded sport to the falconer
and sportsman in those localities.

The silk and cotton — fibre and fabric — of Khutan and
Turfan found markets in Khocand and the adjoining
provinces of China respectively ; whilst the hemp resin,
or bang, of Yarkand formed .the principal item of export
in the direction of Kashmir and the Panjab. For the
rest, the carpets and felts of Khutan, the boots and furs
of Yarkand, and the saddlery and harness gear of Acsu,
were exchanged between the several states of the terri-
tory for the more special of their productions, such as
the cows and mules of Khutan, the walnuts and dried
fruits of Yarkand, the linseed of Kashghar, the tobacco
of Acsu, and sheep of Turfan, &c.

Such in main are the geographical features of the
territory, and such the principal of its productions. Its
climate is equally peculiar and varied. Its chief charac-
teristics are the extremes of temperature in midsummer
and midwinter, the general aridity of the atmosphere
and rarity of rainfall, and the periodical winds and
sand-storms that sweep its surface. Their intensity and

8 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

duration varies in different parts of the country, and
their nature is further modified by the operation of local
causes.

Thus, the temperature, which in the western districts
falls to 26° Fah. below zero during winter, and rises in the
sun's rays to 150° Fah. during summer, is described as
of more equable and temperate character in those on the
eastern borders of the country, where, as in Lob and
Turfan, frosts are mild and of short duration, though
the summer heats are more oppressive by reason of the
steamy vapour raised by the sun's action upon the swamp
tract which covers so wide a surface of the land in that
direction.

The steady north-west wind, which blows down the
valley in spring, is followed in the autumn by violent
storms and whirlwinds,, which reach their maximum
intensity on the eastern half of the plain, and raise clouds
of sand that fill the air with an impenetrable obscurity
over hundreds of square miles of the country. Eain
rarely falls on the plain, and only in thin showers during
the summer season — a fortunate circumstance for the
people, for a good downpour, such as we are accustomed
to in India, would sap their mud walls and bring the
houses down upon their devoted heads. Snow falls in
winter for a few days only, to the aggregate depth of
perhaps a foot, and only on the westernmost parts of the
plain.

The wide range of atmospheric temperature in the
course of succession of the seasons, combined with the
effects of the other meteorological phenomena above
referred to, are not without their special influence on
the health standard of the people ; though what the pre-
J cise nature of this may be there are no sufficient data
from which to draw a just conclusion.

PRE VALENT DISEASES. 9

During our sojourn in those cities, I opened a chari-
table dispensary in Yarkand and Kashghar, and, from the
large numbers daily attending, was enabled to acquire a
tolerably correct idea of the diseases most prevalent
amongst the inhabitants, as well as to form an opinion
as to the standard of their physical development and
endurance as a people. The result of my experience
tends to prove that, of the mass of disease and suffering
I saw, less was attributable to the direct influence of
climate than might have been expected ; that more was
the result of the operation of local agencies, and that
most owed its origin to neglect of hygiene coupled with
indulgence in vicious habits.

Under the first category, inflammatory affections of
the respiratory organs and glands of the throat were
common enough, as were rheumatic affections ; but
fevers were not so. And of these typhoids and remit-
tents w^ere more prevalent than intermittents, which
last, indeed, were remarkably unfrequent. On the
other hand, scrofula and pulmonary consumption, can-
cers and melanotic tumours, appeared with a frequency
of recurrence attractive of attention ; whilst diseases of
the eye — its membranes and humours, and blindness —
cataract and amaurosis, were met at every turn, the result
of atmospheric and terrestrial influences combined. .
/ These last with bronchocele, which, in every form and
variety, are of almost universal prevalence in the city
and suburbs of Yarkand more than elsewhere, are attri-
butable to local agencies originating in the nature of
the soil, and afflict the people to a hideous degree. The
frequency of blindness is attributable to the intense glare
from the snow-white salines that almost everywhere
encrust the light sandy soil of the country ; whilst the
prevalence of goitre is assigned a cause in the quality of

io KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

the water supply which flows over a sandy soil very
largely composed of mica.

Of the diseases produced by vicious habits and faulty
mode of living, we need here only refer to those resulting
from the very general abuse of opium and hemp, as, owing
to their frequency and aggravated forms in both sexes,
they form an important item in the sum total of the
defects that combine to deteriorate the physical standard
of the people. They are found in great variety, princi-
pally connected with derangement of the digestive func-
tions, and may be classed under the comprehensive term
dyspepsia — a disease which, in its aggravated forms,
unfits the sufferer from the pursuit of his ordinary avo-
cation, and too often develops itself into hypochondriasis
and mania.

With the above result of my experience of the healthy
state of the people in the two principal cities of the
country, it would appear that climate is less at fault
than society. On our own party, numbering 130 men,
the effects of the climate, during a residence of six
months in the western districts of the country, was only
beneficial. But then, as honoured guests, we were sur-
rounded with every comfort and convenience of pro-
tection, and the experiences of our mode of life during
the most healthy season of the year, afford no criterion
whereby to judge those of the resident population living
under far less favourable conditions. The rigorous
character and prolonged duration of the winter season
in this region condemns the people to a life of inactivity
during nearly half the year, whilst the powerful action
of the sun — intensified by the arid and desert nature
of the country — during the remaining portion of the
period, operates to render them less capable of enduring
physical exertion than the inhabitants of the more tern-

CLIMA TIC I NFL UENCE. 1 1

perate climes, and at the same time — under conditions
that claim all the energies of the people for the produc-
tion of the means of subsistence — hinder a free develop-
ment of the mental faculties in the paths of science or
literature, and prevent the cultivation of the arts of
civilised life, such as architecture, painting, mechanical
skill, and so forth, in any degree beyond that of their
simplest and barbarous forms. Such is the conclusion
to be drawn from what we saw of the country and its
people. We found the latter for the most part suitably
clad and well nourished — were they not so they could
not exist in such a climate — but at the same time we
observed that they were singularly deficient in the
power of enduring any sustained physical exertion, par-
ticularly in the way of marching, even the poorest doing
their journeys astride an ass. Their literature, with the
exception of a few works dating from the flourishing
epoch of the Chaghtay rule, is very meagre, and consists
mostly of theological books introduced by the priesthood
of Bukhara and Khocand. Their cities, with the excep-
tion of two or three decayed mosques of the Arab period,
are devoid of buildings of any architectural merit, whilst
the mud-built houses composing their towns and home-
steads cannot for a moment compare with the picturesque
edifices of an Indian city ; for the substantial structure,
elegant style, and convenient design of the latter are
altogether unknown in Kashghar — alike in the palaces of
the kings or mansions of the nobles, which differ but
little, except in size and interior comfort and decoration,
from the humble flat-roofed mud-built tenements of the
general community.

The country has no manufactures, and produces no
works of art of any excellence, or of such quality that it
could barter with its neighbours for more requisite com-

12 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

modities. The silk fabrics of Khutan are far inferior to
those of Khocand, and find no demand beyond the limits
of their own territory; whilst its coarse cottons and felts
are sought only for the home market of Khocand. And
similarly the boots of Yarkand and the saddles of Acsu
go abroad no further than Kirghiz camps on the borders
I of the country. The wool of Turfan — the finest in the
J world — supports no home manufacture of any excelling
merit, though in the hands of the Kashmiri it produces
the shawls of which the celebrity is. world wide. The
highly prized jade, so greatly in demand amongst the
Chinese, was only wrought in the country by the skill of
emigrants — artists from the interior of the empire. It
is on its raw materials and natural products that the
country depends for its external trade, and not on its
manufactures or products of skilled industry. Its gold
and silk, its musk and jade, its ~bang and its wool, are
all that the country can give for the tea, sugar, spices
and drugs of which it stands in need ; for the cottons
and muslins, the silks and satins, the velvets and bro-
cades of which the wealthy are the purchasers ; and for
the furs, cutlery, and hardware which are required by
every household. But for the development of these
natural sources of wealth the country wants a secure
and just government and a far more enlightened admini-
stration than is to be hoped for from a Muhammadan
ruler such as are the ignorant despots of the petty states
of Central Asia — those sinks of barbarism, iniquity, fana-
ticism and oppression that form the crumbling barrier
between the civilised and Christian governments of
Great Britain and Eussia. The above facts, cited as
illustrative of the deficient energy of the people now
inhabiting the territory of Kashghar, are not to be con-
sidered as mainly the result of the climate in which they

ANCIENT INHABITANTS. 13

live, though no doubt its effects are not without a certain
influence, which, in combination with the other conditions
of their position and government, has operated to pro-
duce the state of affairs described.

It is the nature of the society and the character of the
rule which obtain amongst them, acting upon the pecu-
liar innervation of the stock from whence they are
derived, that have been the principal agents in moulding
the character of the people to the fashion in which we
find it.

We are taught by the records of history that the
region now occupied by the people of Kashghar was in
remote times the seat of a race whose posterity have
peopled far distant and wide-spreading continents, and
have risen to the foremost rank in science and civilisation,
in industry and enterprise, in power and wealth. From
the vast plains between the Himalaya and the Altai,
and from the recesses of the mountain chain passing
diagonally between them, issued the forefathers of the
Saxon race in Europe, and their Aryan kindred in India.
But their pristine home knows them no longer, only a
few insignificant tribes (as to number) of the prime
stock now remaining in the inaccessible fastnesses of the
mountains from which they have been assigned a dis-
tinctive race designation.

</ It is on the slopes of the Hindu Kush — the real Cau-
casus— that we find the pure Caucasian, the representa-
tives of the original Saka, Sui or Sacoe, who were pushed
up from the plains by kindred tribes of the Yuchi, Getoe,
Jatta, or Goth, as they themselves were pressed by vast
hordes of a foreign and barbarous stock issuing from the
extreme north.

Successive irruptions of these northern barbarians
drove the Saka and the Jatta, or the Sui and Yuchi, as

H KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

the Chinese call them respectively, out of their primeval
seats, and impelled them upon Europe in the one direc-
tion, and upon India in the other.

In the west they have transplanted to the soil of their
adoption — as in Gothland, Jutland, England, Saxony,
&c. — the names of their colonising tribes; and in the
south they have repeated the names of the settlements
they left behind them, as Kasi or Banaras (Kasighar-
Kashghar), Hari or Harat (Arikhand-Yarkand), Kucha
or Kuchar (Kachar-Cachar), Kurla (Koela), Katak — now
in ruins — (Cuttack). At least, so I venture to conclude
from the similarity of names, and the historical record
of the emigration. Further, the northern highlands of
Kashghar are still known as Jatta Mughol — the names of
its former and present inhabitants combined — though in
the time of Tymur (Tamerlane) the country was called
simply Jatta, notwithstanding the fact of its inhabitants
being the Mughol ; and it is probable that the Jatta or
Jat, or Jath of the Panjab, who have been identified
with the Yuchi, originally dwelt in this locality bearing
their name.

The Yuchi were dispossessed of Kashghar, and driven
into Kabul and Kashmir, by a tribe of Mughol Tartar
pressing forward from the direction of Khamil and
Turfan. Their tribal name was Uyghur, but they were
called Hiungnu or Hioungnou by the Chinese, and
made themselves known in Europe — where they are
represented by the Hungarians of the present day — as
the Ouighour, Ougre, or Hunigur, Hongre or Hun.
These Uyghur are the present inhabitants of Kashghar,
but they have lost much of the distinguishing race type
of their original stock through Caucasian innervation
introduced with the Arab conquest; and the result of
the commixture has been, apart from the change of

EARL Y CONQ UEST B Y CHINA. 1 5

physiognomy and growth of beard, an improved standard
of physical development and mental capacity.

They share the territory with the Calmac and Kirghiz,
who are Tartars of a strongly-marked Mughol or Mongol
type, and roam the northern and eastern borders of the
territory. The Calmac are Budhists, and the Kirghiz
nominally profess Islam, though in reality they are, as
the Musalmans style them, mere pagans. Both the tribes
have little intercourse with the settled Muhammadan
population on the side of Kashghar, whilst on the other —
to the north of Tianshan — where they are in force, they
are mostly Eussian subjects.

The Uyghur, after expelling the Yuchi — about two
hundred years before the Christian era — established an
independent kingdom in Kashghar, and waged a succes-
sion of wars against China, which ended by their sub-
jection to that empire about 60 B.C. They subsequently,
however, recovered their independence, but were again
attacked by the Chinese who annexed the country to
the empire, and in 94 A.D. occupied Kashghar. From
this they crossed the mountains into the Oxus valley,
and carried their arms as far west as the shores of the
Caspian.

From this period up to the time of the Arab conquest
of the Bukhara territory, or Transoxiana, in the early
part of the eighth century, Kashghar acknowledged a
more or less vicarious allegiance to the Chinese govern-
ment. So long as the government was strong at the
capital, and order reigned in the home provinces,
Kashghar remained loyal, and a willing tributary
governed by officers appointed from the imperial palace.
In times of civil commotion and dismemberment in the
interior of the empire, on the contrary, this territory
threw off its allegiance, and became divided into a

1 6 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

number of petty states under independent local chiefs,
each at war with the other for mastery over the whole.

And such was the divided state of the country at the
time that the Arabs appeared on the banks of the Oxus
in the beginning of the eighth century. These im-
petuous conquerors here received a check in the vic-
torious career of their triumphs, and it was not till after
a succession of campaigns that they planted their creed
and rule on the soil of Bukhara. Yet, even in the first
of their onslaughts against this devoted territory, so
great was the zeal of their warriors, and so ambitious
the enterprise of their generals, that Cutaiba, in 712
A.D., penetrated into Khocand, and, crossing the moun-
tains, carried a rapid expedition through the length of
Kashghar up to Turfan on the proper China frontier.

The death of the Khalif Walid, however, necessi-
tated his hasty retreat from so distant a position, and
Kashghar enjoined a temporary reprieve. Meanwhile,
the Arabs consolidated their conquest on the west of the
passes, and stamping out with impartial ferocity alike
the worship of the Magi and the religion of the Chris-
tian, brought the whole country under the protection of
Islam.

Their inexorable law — the Curan or the sword — was
explicit, and left no middle course. Accept the one,
and claim the rights of equality, brotherhood, and pro-
tection ; reject it, and submit to the decree of God and
the edge of the sword were the only alternatives. The
Curan triumphed, and found so congenial a soil that its
doctrine soon struck root, and flourished with a prosperity
which rivalled that of the faith in the cradle of its origin,
and in after times, up to our own days, formed a centre
of its most fanatic bigotry and exclusive jealousy.

The most important of the early converts was Saman,

CONVERSION TO ISLAM. 17

a Zoroastrian noble of Balkh, who embraced Islam in
order to regain possession of the hereditary estates from
which, under the new regime, he had been ejected.
Whatever his own convictions might have been, his
posterity were sincere followers of the prophet, for we
find the four sons of his son Asad holding posts of
honour and trust, as governors of the four most im-
portant provinces of the country — Herat, Samarcand,
Farghana and Tashkand — under the special patronage
of the Khalif.

Nasar, the son of Ahmad, and governor of Farghana
during the revolt of the Sistan princes, became ruler of
all Bukhara and Turkistan, and established the Samani
dynasty. His brother and successor, Ismail, raised the
Samani power to its highest point, and at his death, in
907 A.D., left an empire extending from Ispahan and
Shiraz on the west to Turfan and the Gobi on the east,
and from Sistan and the Persian Gulf on the south to
the Capchac Steppes and Great Desert on the north.

It was during the Samani rule that Islam was first
introduced amongst the Uyghur of Kashghar. Here,
as in the Oxus valley, it met a determined opposition,
and, notwithstanding the conversion of Satoc Bughra
Khan, the hereditary chief of Kashghar, and his zeal in
the cause of its propagation, the doctrine and law was not
enforced in the country until Khutan — the ancient strong-
hold of Budhism — was finally subjugated. This was
after a warfare of nearly twenty-five years, during w^hich
the flower of Persian chivalry withered on an unknown
waste, and a host of Arab martyrs sanctified the soil with
their blood, and earned for themselves a lasting memorial
in the endless calendar of Muhammadan saints.

On the decline of the Samani dynasty after a rule of
nearly a hundred and fifty years — during which the Per-

B

1 8 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

sian literature suppressed by the Arabs was revived,
and the religion planted by them was established accord-
ing to the orthodox Sunni ordinance in triumph over
the Shid heresy propagated by the false prophet Muc-
cann'a — the Bughra Khan family, whose ruling chief was
called lylik Khan and had his capital at Kashghar,
rose to power, and the Uyghur Empire spread over the
vallies on both sides of the Bolor range — from the Caspian
to the Gobi.

lylik Khan was dispossessed of his western conquests
by the Saljuk Tatar under Sultan Sanjar; and dissen-
sions breaking out in the Bughra Khan family, the
Uyghur, divided amongst themselves, soon succumbed
to the Cara Khitay, a Mughol or Mongol horde, who
were advancing from the direction of Ila in the early
part of the twelfth century. Gorkhan or " Sovereign
Lord " — the title of the leader of this wandering horde
of Chinese outcasts — profiting by the asylum granted
to his Budhist following on the Uyghur borders, took
advantage of their internal dissensions to seize the
country for himself, and very quickly extended his
conquests up to Khiva. The Cara Khitay rule, after
enduring for eighty-five years, was suddenly overthrown
by the treachery of Koshluk Khan, who plotted with
Cutubuddin Muhammad Khwarizm Shah for the divi-
sion of the Gorkhan Empire between them.

This Koshluk was prince of the Nayman Kirghiz — a
tribe which, like some others of those wandering shep-
herds, professed Christianity as members of the Nes-
torian Church — and fled from his home in Caracoram
before the hostility of Changiz, who was pressing for-
ward his Mughols from the north-east, to seek asylum
with the Gorkhan of kindred race and country. He
met a cordial reception from the Cara Khitay leader,

INVASION B Y MUGHOL. 1 9

and received his daughter in marriage, but repaid these
favours by the basest ingratitude ; and when the
Khwarizm king, flushed by his recent successes against
Khurasan and Bukhara, refused the tribute heretofore
paid by Khiva, and Gorkhan in his old age personally
took the field against him, Koshluk made a diversion in
favour of Cutubuddin Muhammad, and brought defeat
on the army of his patron, and following the rout of his
troops, made a prisoner of his father-in-law, and usurped
the reins of government.

He did not, however, long retain his ill-gotten power,
and soon paid the penalty of his perfidy with his life. For
Changiz, who had at this time mastered the tribes on the
eastern and northern borders of Kashghar, now claimed
the submission of the Uyghur. The northern division,
under Aidy Cut, at once joined his victorious standard ;
but Koshluk, ruling the southern division, mindful of
their former enmity, refused to do so. Changiz sent a
division of his Mughol under two generals to reduce the
refractory leader and annex his country. Koshluk now
deserted by the Uyghur fled precipitately to Khutan,
whilst the Mughol surprising his Nayman troops left at
Kashghar, put them all to the sword, and went in pur-
suit of the fugitive. Koshluk, on their approach, aban-
doned his family and treasures, and with only two or
three attendants, fled to the recesses of the mountains in
Wakhan. Here he was seized by some shepherds of the
country, who handed up his head to propitiate the
Mughol pursuers.

And thus Kashghar, about 1220 A.D., passed into the
hands of Changiz. Its territory suffered little of those
horrors and destructions which mark to the present day
the onward progress of this renowned conqueror, for the
Uyghur now bodily joined his standard to work the

20 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

havoc they parried from their own country by this
happy allegiance. Under the magnificence, protection,
and toleration of the Mughol rule, Kashghar enjoyed a
degree of prosperity she had never before known ; and
her cities, being on the line of route of the great trade
caravans between China and Europe, soon rose to a
position of wealth and importance.

The Christian, too, equally with the Budhist, both of
whom under the ascendancy of Islam had been per-
secuted and proscribed, now reappeared in the country,
and dwelt on equal terms with their former oppressors.
The Muhammadan priest, now deprived of his power of
appeal to the sword, rapidly lost the supremacy he
had by violence held over the minds of the people, and
Christian churches and Budhist temples sprung up where
mosques fell to decay. That Christianity here had at
this period acquired some considerable footing, may be
concluded from the fact of Yarkand being a bishop's see
at the time Marco Polo visited the country in the middle
of the thirteenth century.

On the death of Changiz, his vast empire was divided
between his sons, and the Kashghar territory formed
part of the kingdom assigned to Chaghtay. But on his
death, which occurred a few years later, the kingdom
fell to pieces, and Kashghar became the bone of conten-
tion between rival princes of the Chaghtay line and that
of his brother Aoktay, the Khacan of China, and passed
in whole or in part alternately from one to the other till,
finally, about the middle of the fourteenth century, it
was brought together as an independent kingdom under
Toghluc Tymur of Chaghtay descent, who moved his
capital from Acsu to Kashghar; and had his summer
quarters on the borders of the lake Isigh Kol on the

CAMPAIGNS OF TYMUR, 21

north of the Tianshan, in the territory called Mugho-
listan, or Jatta Mughol, or Ulus Jatta.

Toghluc Tynrnr restored peace and order in the country,
appointed his court after the model of the Mughol Em-
pire, and re-established Islam which, since the downfall
of the Mughol Empire, had become the dominant creed
in these regions. Towards the close of his reign, taking
advantage of the troubles distracting that country, he
invaded Bukhara, and left his son Ilyas Khoja in the
government of Samarcand. But a few years later, on
the death of Toghluc Tymur in 1363 A.D., he was
driven out of the country by the Amirs Husen and Tymur
(afterwards Tamerlane), and on reaching Mugholistan
was killed by Camaruddin Doghlat, his father's gover-
nor of the province, who then seized all Kashghar, and
killed all the children of Toghluc Tymur except an
infant son — Khizr Khoja — who was carried away and
secreted in the hills about Sarighcul and Khutan by Amir
Khudadad, the governor of Kashghar. Amir Tymur,
on becoming master of Bukhara, carried four successive
expeditions into Mugholistan against Camaruddin and
the Jatta. In the last of these Camaruddin was killed,
and then, in 1383 A.IX, Khizr Khoja was recalled from
his exile and set on the throne at Kashghar by the
governor — Amir Khudadad, son of Bolaji and nephew
of Camaruddin. He was unable to restrain his nomads
from their wonted raids upon the Tashkand frontier,
and consequently Tymur, in 1389 A.D., undertook his
fifth and last campaign against the country with a vast
army, which, advancing in four divisions — two on the
south and two on the north of Tianshan — swept the
whole country and reunited in the Yuldoz valley, driv-
ing half the population, together with their spoil of
captives and cattle and plunder, before them.

22 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Tymur here divided the immense booty in slaves,
cattle, and merchandise amongst his victorious troops,
and then restoring Khizr Khoja, whose allegiance he
accepted, and whose daughter he married, to the govern-
ment, returned to his capital, leaving the country so
beggared and depopulated that it has never recovered
the shock. After Khizr Khoja the government de-
scended through a succession of Mughol Khans, his
descendants, whose reigns are characterised by an end-
less variety of disorders, strifes, and bloodshed — more or
less connected with the state of affairs in Bukhara, and
the Uzbak ascendancy in Khocand and northern Turk-
istan — till, after a duration of two hundred years, the
power passed into the hands of the Khojas.

These proved no better rulers than those from whom
they usurped the government, and the country knew no
peace until it passed under the rule of the Chinese.

Khizr Khoja was succeeded in the rule of the Mughol
by his son Muhammad Khan, who was the cotemporary
of Ulugh Beg in Mawaranahar, and of Shahrukh in
Khurasan, and was the last of the Khacan or "Em-
perors " who governed with the style and pomp of the
Chaghtay court. He was a wealthy prince and a bigoted
Musalman. During his reign the Muhammadan shara'
was firmly established as the law of the land, and the
country enjoyed a season of peace and prosperity.

During the succeeding reign of his son Sher Muham-
mad Khan, however, the country was plunged into dis-
order by the rebellion of Wais Khan, the son of his
brother Sher 'Ali Oghlan who, collecting a lawless band
of Kirghiz and Cazzac, raided the country in all direc-
tions and carried his incursions across the border into the
territories of Tashkand and Khocand. In the midst of
these disorders Sher Muhammad Khan died, and was

THE MUGHOL KHANS. 23

succeeded on the throne by his nephew, the rebellious
Wais Khan. He was now powerless to restrain the
unruly bands of adventurers he had gathered together
about him, and his own inclinations drawing him to the
excitements of the camp, he abandoned the cares of the
government to prosecute a succession of fruitless cam-
paigns for the conversion of the Calmac.

Amir Khudadad, the hereditary governor of Kashghar
—who had rescued the infant Khizr Khoja from the
clutches of his uncle Camaruddin and thus preserved
the family from extinction, and who for three quarters
of a century had served the Mughol Khans with loyal
devotion, and endeared himself to the people by his pro-
bity and just government — now in his old age, hopeless
of restoring order in the country, determined to abandon
it. He invited Ulugh Beg to Chui, and there making
over the Mughol to him, left the country to close his
eventful life in the hallowed and peaceful precincts of
the Prophet's shrine.

The Mughol, averse to so summary a transfer, dis-
persed to their steppes, and Ulugh sent an army to reduce
them. Wais was killed in action on the banks of the
Chui, and Kashghar was occupied by the troops from
Samarcand. The succession was now contested between
his two youthful sons, Yunus and Eshanbogha. The
partizans of the former took him to Ulugh with the ob-
ject of securing his support, but he sent the wild young
Mughol out of the way to his father Shahrukh at Herat ;
and he put him in charge of the celebrated Maulana
Sharifuddin 'All Yazdi to be educated and polished.

Meanwhile Eshanbogha, who was a mere puppet in the
hands of the Mughol chiefs, themselves divided by jea-
lousy and discord, was finally set on the throne at Acsu by
Mir Sayyid 'All, who had recovered his hereditary govern-

24 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

ment of Kashghar from the nominees of Ulugh, after
an estrangement of fourteen years. He was obliged,
however, to abandon Acsu for the more secure retreat of
his steppes, and here varied the monotony of his life by
a succession of raids on Syram and Tashkand, and an
invasion of Khocand or Andijan. These hostilities in-
duced Abu Sa'ld, the successor of Ulugh Beg, to summon
Yunus from his retreat in Shiraz, and to restore him to
the government of the Mughol. His polished education
in Persia, however, quite unfitted him to cope with the
rough barbarity of his nomads, from whom he had be-
come estranged by an absence of twenty-four years, and
his first essay to recover the rule proved a disastrous
failure. With the aid of his patron, however, and
matrimonial alliances with his successor at Bukhara, and
with the ruler of Khocand, he ultimately succeeded in
establishing an insecure government at Tashkand, and a
doubtful authority over Kashghar which had become
divided between Eshanbogha in the east and Mir Sayyid
'Ali in the west, and their children respectively. On the
death of Yunus the Uzbak power, which had been rapidly
progressing under Shaiban Khan during his reign,
acquired a complete mastery all over the states of
Bukhara and Khocand. Tashkand soon fell to them,
and Mahmud, the son and successor of Yunus, was
driven back upon his steppes ; but unable to control the
discords and contentions amongst the Mughol, he left
their camps and repaired for asylum to Tashkand, and
was there, with all his family, executed by the Uzbak
chief. His brother Ahmad Khan, surnamed A laja " the
slayer," during the life of Yunus, had retired to rule over
his steppes, and, after subduing his enemies amongst
the nomads with a severity and recklessness of life which
gained him the name by which he is known in history,

EXPEDITION INTO TIB AT. 25

contested the possession of KasLghar against Ababakar,
a grandson of Mir Sayyid ' Ali, who had seized the western
half of the territory, and fixed his capital at Yarkand.
He captured the cities of Kashghar and Yangi Hissar,
and laid siege to Yarkand, but was ultimately driven back
to his steppes by Ababakar.

It was on his return from this campaign that, hear-
ing of the fate of Mahmud, he went to avenge his death.
He was, however, repulsed with loss, and retiring to Acsu
died there in the winter following. His numerous sons
now contested the rule of the Mughol amongst themselves
and Ababakar. After several years of civil war, Mansur
secured the eastern government up to Acsu, whilst his
brother Sultan Sa'id who, after a variety of adventures,
had found refuge at Kabul, returned thence as a parti-
zan of Babur, and seized the western half of the terri-
tory from Ababakar ; and thus the two brothers enjoyed
a divided government over the states of Kashghar.

Sultan Sa'id was the last of the Mughol Khans who
exercised any real authority in the country. He sub-
dued the nomad camps on the northern borders, and
secured the conquests made by Ababakar in the direction
of Badakhshan and Kashmir. In 1531-2 A.D. he in-
vaded Tib at with an army of 5000 men, but becoming
very ill in the passage of the mountains, and finding the
country incapable of supporting his troops during the
winter, he seized upon Balti with a thousand men, and
sent the rest under his son Iskandar to winter in
Kashmir.

In the following summer he was rejoined by these
troops, and sending them forward to the conquest of
Lhassa, or Aorsang, himself set out to return to his capital.
He died in the passage of the mountains, not far from the
Caracoram pass, from the effects of the rarified atmos-

26 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

pliere. His eldest son, Rashid, now set out from his
government at Acsu and seized the capital. He executed
and banished all his father's faithful servants, and dis-
persed his family, and allied with the Uzbaks. On the
death of Mansur, he brought all the country up to
Turfan under one united government, but on his death,
owing to dissensions amongst his sons, the several states
fell asunder under different members of the family, all
more or less at feud with each other.

In this state of disorder and weakness Khoja Hida-
yatulla, surnamed Hazrat Afac, the head of a family of
priests, descendants of the celebrated Makhdumi ui'azim
\/ of Bukhara, who had only in recent years acquired a
position at Kashghar, usurped the government amidst a
perfect maze of intrigues, plots, and contentions. Being
ousted by a combination of his opponents, the Khoja —
about the middle of the seventeenth century — called to
his aid the Calmac ruler of Ila or Zunghar ; but he
seized the country for himself, merely reinstating the
Khoja for the purpose of administering the government
under officers appointed by himself.

This, however, did not restore peace to the country,
and on the death of Afac a fresh war broke out amongst
the Khojas, his sons and successors, for the mastery; and
it continued, under varying phases, for more than a cen-
tury, when the anarchy in Zunghar led to the occupation
of Ila by the Chinese, and their subsequent conquest of
Kashghar — as successors of the Calmac possessors —
about 1760 A.D.

The Chinese, on taking possession of the country, in
no way interfered with the internal administration of
the government, which was carried on as heretofore by
Musalman agents, supervised by Chinese officers who
were all under the control of a provincial governor ap-

THE KHOJA USURPATION. 27

pointed from Pekin ; but they planted a strong garrison
in the capital of each of the states, and held other
strategic points and frontier posts for the defence of the
country, maintenance of order, protection of trade, and
the realisation of the revenue.

The advance of the Chinese so far to the west alarmed
all the petty states of Central Asia, and the priesthood,
stimulated by the appeals of the expatriated Khojas,
who had found an asylum in Khocand, called upon the
princes and people to unite under the green banner of
Islam to repel the infidel foe. But then, as now, the
anarchy, rivalries, and jealousies dividing the several
independent governments of that seat of Muhammadan
bigotry and ignorance prevented any coalition or unity
of action, though the self-made monarch of the newly
raised Afghan kingdom, in the arrogance of his sudden
rise to power, sent a force to protect the frontier at
Tashkand, whilst his envoys went to Pekin with a
haughty demand for the restoration of Kashghar to its
Musalman rulers.

His embassy met with no further mishap than a sum-
mary dismissal, and Ahmad Shah was content to avenge
himself by overruning Badakhshan and leaving Islam in
Kashghar to take care of itself, whilst he more profitably
employed his arms in the Panjab. The dispossessed
Khojas, however, never ceased to agitate their claims,
and seized every promising opportunity to invade the
country and attempt the recovery of their patrimonial
rights.

In these endeavours they were encouraged to per-
severe, by the facilities afforded for intrigue through
the intimate relations permitted to subsist under the
Chinese rule between the western states of Kashghar
and the Khanate of Khocand, by reason of the trade

28 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

privileges granted by the Pekin Government in favour
of the Khan of Khocand, whose territory, paripassu
with the establishment of the Chinese rule in Kashghar,
had grown into an independent principality.

No less than four times during the present century
did the Khojas invade Kashghar from Khocand and
raise the three western states of Khutan, Yarkand, and
Kashghar in revolt against the Chinese authority. In
each instance were they welcomed with acclamations of
joy as deliverers from the infidel yoke, and in each in-
stance, after only a few brief weeks of authority, were
they loathed as shameless libertines, and execrated as
merciless tyrants. In each instance they fled before the
Chinese reinforcements without a party to stand by them
in the hour of need, or to follow them in their turn of
misfortune. And in each instance was the restoration of
the infidel rule, despite its accompanying reprisals, exe-
cutions, and tortures, hailed with satisfaction as the
lesser of the two evils ; for in its train came protection,
law, trade, and prosperity, neither one or other of which
was known under the riot and plunder of the Khoja
bands of needy adventurers.

Yet notwithstanding these experiences, so strong is
the inherent fanaticism of Islamite bigotry, however lax
may be the observance of its ordinances, that there is
little doubt had another invasion under the former con-
ditions occurred, it would have run a similar course to
its predecessors. And this opinion is supported by the
facts of the successful career of the present ruler of the
territory — a career prosecuted under circumstances so
different from those attending previous invasions from
the same principality of Khocand.

The last revolt in Kashghar, inaugurated from the side
of Khocand, was that under Khoja Wali Khan in 1857.

TUNGANI REBELLION. 29

At this time a new power had established itself upon the
borders, and with the appearance of the Eussians on the
Jaxartes and on the shores of Isigh Kol, the influence of
the Khan of Khocand on the one side, and of the Chinese
in Kashghar on the other, relatively and substantively
underwent a change more or less in subservience to the
ambition of their more powerful neighbour ; and both
alike, though from the action of different causes, before
long became distracted by anarchy and revolt, much to
the advantage of their mutual enemy hovering upon
their borders.

During the intestine feuds and disorders at this period
convulsing the principality of Khocand, the Russians,
through the exigency of the position in which they found
themselves, were forced to advance and annex the most
important part of the territory. Following this, the re-
volt in Kashghar, surging on from the Chinese provinces
to the East, necessitated their interference and assump-
tion of authority over Zunghar ; and this at a moment
far from convenient to themselves, with the progress of
the annexation of the country down to Samarcand still
upon their hands.

It was whilst the Russians were thus occupied that
Khoja Buzurg Khan, doubtless much to their satisfac-
tion, quitted the trenches of Tashkand with the permis-
sion of Alim Culi, and with his small band of adventurers
under Baturbashi Yacub Beg set out from Khocand to
recover the rule of his ancestors over the divided states
of Kashghar, now completely severed from their connec-
tion with the Chinese Empire by the insurrection of the
Tungani.

It is not necessary here to trace in detail the brief and
inglorious career of the Khoja, nor that of his more
successful general, Yacub Beg, in the conquest of Kash-

30 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

ghar. Suffice it for our purpose to say that the latter,
after deposing his master, was indebted for his success to
the aid of the Andijan or Khocand emigrants and mer-
chants he found in the country, as well as, like all
Muhammadan usurpers under similar conditions of
education and circumstances, to the free use of the irre-
sponsible despot's privileges, exercised solely for the
advancement of his personal interest.

Consequently, we find that the history of the six
years during which he gradually brought into his sole
and undisputed possession the six principal states of the
territory — Turfan, Kucha, Acsu, Kashghar, Yarkand,
and Khutan, each of which has a melancholy record of
its own wrongs and sufferings — is a fearful picture of the
miseries and ruin worked upon the country in the pro-
cess of reconverting it into a Muhammadan government
on the model of the intolerant and fanatic courts of the,
let us hope, happily doomed Bukhara and Khocand.

The events of this period, as we were in a measure
enabled to ascertain during our stay in the country,
differed little in point of reality from the accounts which,
from time to time, floated about the frontier bazars of
the Panjab, and now and again received a fresh interest
from the exciting details brought down by the traders
returning from the north, though, strange to say, they at
the time hardly attracted the notice of the Indian press
in any degree commensurate with their importance.

Yet, during this eventful time were enacted in the
states of Kashghar a succession of mean intrigues and
base treacheries, a role of wholesale assassinations and
summary imprisonments, and a course of confiscations,
executions, and tortures, the detail of which is horrify-
ing, though by itself incomplete without the addition of
the tyranny of Islam — its merciless massacres and

ATALIK GHAZL 31

forcible conversions, its intolerance of the unbeliever
and destruction of every trace of his religion, its lawful
plunder of his property and its equally legal enslave-
ment of his person and his family.

Through an ordeal, such as is portrayed above, did
the states of Kashghar pass before Yacub Beg, as Atalik
Ghazi or "Champion of the Faith," established his autho-
rity over the country, and revived its decayed Islam
on the model of the orthodox Sunni doctrine by the
strict enforcement of the Shara and the restoration of
Muhammadan relics all over the country.

In this course the ruling families of the newly estab-
lished principalities of Khutan and Acsu cum Kucha
were cleared away root and branch. The aged chief of
Orumchi, who, on the destruction of the Acsu family,
temporarily became prince of Turfan as an integral por-
tion of his dominion, passed away during the storm
which, presently following its capture by Yacub Beg,
swept over his capital, and left his populous and flourish-
ing territory a depopulated and beggared waste ; whilst
of the Tungani leaders and governors in these eastern
towns not one survived the transfer of the rule.

With the establishment of the new regime, however,
and the disappearance of all supposed to be in any way
capable of obstructing its endurance, the country has
become consolidated under a single ruler whose aim is
to assimilate the whole to one uniform standard under
the banner of Islam. With the conflicting element of
the Budhist Calmac who preponderate, or did so, on the
borders of the Eastern States as pagan tributaries paying
the jaziya, and the large number of enslaved captives
of war, and forced converts — both Chinese and Calmac —
mixed up with the Muhammadan population generally
throughout the country, the task is of itself one of no

32 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

small difficulty, without considering the nature of the
material on which the ruler has to rely for the mainten-
ance of his authority in the country of his conquest.
Let us hope, in the interests of philanthropy and civi-
lisation, that the conquering chief — now that he has the
field clear to himself — may prove himself worthy of the
charge he has assumed ; and that the intercourse he has
for other purposes initiated with the governments of
Europe most powerful in Asia, may in due time be the
means of introducing an enlightened, just, and tolerant
government into a region where their fruits promise a
more abundant harvest than in any other part of the
Central Asian area.

With this necessarily very brief and summary review
of the country and its people, we may now proceed with
the narrative of the journey of the Embassy to Kashghar
in 1873-4.

CHAPTEK I.

IN the first days of the year 1873 there arrived in
Kashmir, after a hazardous passage of the mountains, a
party of eight or ten Andijan or Khocand horsemen
headed by one who, in the summer of 1870, had'made
the journey northward from Srinaggar in company with
Mr Forsyth's Mission to Yarkand in that year. Their
appearance at so late a period of the season was unex-
pected, but, the nature of their errand being explained,
they were welcomed and expedited on their way by the
officials of the Maharaja.

Sayyid Yacub Khan, Torah, the Envoy of Atalik
Ghazi to the Viceroy of India and the Sultan of Turkey,
in the first instance repaired to the camp of the Lieu-
tenant Governor of the Panjab, which was at that time
pitched at Hasan abdal during the manoeuvres of an
army of exercise assembled in that locality, and present-
ing himself before Sir Henry Davies made known the
purpose of his visit.

After a brief rest there, during which he enjoyed a
hearty hospitality and witnessed a military spectacle
such as, in point of magnificence and splendour, and I
may add efficiency, is not to be seen out of India, he
proceeded to Calcutta; and having satisfactorily adjusted
his business with the Government of India there, he set
out on his mission to Constantinople.

In the interval of his absence was organised the
Embassy to Kashghar for the purpose of concluding a

34 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

treaty of commerce with that state, a treaty for
which Atalik Ghazi, through his envoy, had expressed
his earnest desire as a means of improving the friendly
relations which had recently sprung up between the two
governments.

Mr T. D. Forsyth, C.B. (now Sir Douglas Forsyth,
K. C.S.I.), whose identification from the first with the
measures exerted for the development of our trade with
Yarkand at once pointed him out as above all others the
most fitted, by his intimate knowledge of the country
and people, for the conduct of such an enterprise, was
selected for this important duty, and appointed on the
part of the Viceroy of India his Envoy and Plenipoten-
tiary for the purpose stated.

With him was associated an efficient staff of scientific
and military officers to profit by the occasion thus offered
of increasing our meagre information regarding those
most interesting and almost unknown countries which
lie immediately to the north of the Himalaya, and which
it was hoped the embassy would visit before returning
to India ; for the programme of its march included a visit
to Khutan and Acsu, and a journey through Badakhshan
and Balkh to Kabul.

The enterprise attracted no small amount of attention
at the time, and awakened an interest hardly less sus-
tained in England than in India itself ; whilst, writh less
of publicity, it claimed the more close scrutiny of other
countries more directly affected by the scope of its
operations.

The press in India was full of the movement, and
viewed the subject under various aspects of its bearing.
And even before the departure of the embassy discussed
its objects — whether commercial, scientific, or political —
with as little of discretion as of propriety, and questioned

PREPARING FOR THE MARCH. 35

the individual merits of its several members with more
of candour than of compliment. The dangers that were
ahead of us, the troubles that would beset our course, and
the horrible fate that was to cut short the triumph of
our labours were vividly portrayed by a very well in-
formed writer in the Pioneer, and reached us in time
only to add a zest to the spirit of the enterprise.

With due deference to the general accuracy of the
writer above referred to, I may here note, in reference to
his moral warnings and doleful forebodings, that if, in
the following pages, I am silent in regard to those dan-
gerous ordeals prognosticated by him, the reader may
certainly conclude that we benedicts had no cause to
fear the prophesied assaults against the sanctity of our
hymeneal vows, whilst as to the bachelors of our party
— they can speai for themselves. Of the perils foretold
by him from the capricious temper and uncontrolled
violence of Atalik Ghazi we fortunately had no ex-
perience— not a single member of our party lost his head
to satisfy the whim of a despot's wrath, neither did any
one of us find lodging in a Eussian prison !

What our real experiences were the narrative will in
due course unfold. Meanwhile let us return to the
arrangements for our journey.

Much preparation and careful attention to details were
necessary for the proper equipment of the party on a scale
commensurate with the requirements of the expedition,
and in a style befitting the importance of the occasion.

To be independent in our movements, and have the
means of transport under our own control, it was de-
cided to purchase a baggage train of a hundred mules
for the express use of the embassy. The gear of these
as well as the mule trunks were all made in the govern-
ment manufactory at Kanhpur, or more familiarly

36 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Cawnpore, and were turned out in the best style of
workmanship and of the most improved pattern. The
packsaddles were of the New Zealand pattern, and
adapted to riding or loading according to necessity,
and the mule trunks were of sheet leather, sewn with
copper wire, and looked very much more serviceable than
they proved under the test of experience.

The tents were made to order at the manufactory of
the Lahore Central Jail, on a pattern devised by Mr
Forsyth, and, despite the many poles (three upright
poles of two pieces each, and two folding ridge poles),
and sockets and ropes, proved roomy and comfortable,
and an efficient protection against the weather. They
were something in the style of the " Swiss cottage "
tent, with a double roof ; the outer one projecting all
round to form a spacious verandah in front, to cover a
closed boot on each side and a bath-room behind. They
stood us in excellent stead on the journey, and were
brought back in better condition than any other portion
of the camp equipage.

These preliminaries amongst other camp requisites
settled, the establishment of tent pitchers, mule drivers,
&c., engaged, the mess stores and servants provided, the
military escort appointed, and — the last though by no
means the least in point of importance or latest in the
order of adjustment — the arrangements with the Maha-
raja of Kashmir for the laying out of provisions and
stores at the several camp stages across the uninhabited
highlands of Tibat by both the Caracoram and Chang-
chanmo routes, as well as for carriage and supplies on the
route through Kashmir completed, the camp was ordered
to assemble at Eawal Pindi on the 1st July, and on that
date Lieut. -Colonel T. E. Gordon (now C.S.I.) arrived
there and took command of the whole.

HAL T AT MURREE. 3 7

From Eawal Pindi the party marched in two divisions
to Murree, and camped there on the Flats, where, since
some days previously, the Kashmir officials, agreeably
to requisition, had collected a string of eighty or ninety
riding and baggage ponies for the use of the embassy.
Here I joined the embassy, made the acquaintance of
its members, and learned the arrangements for the order
of our journey. Each of us was provided with a tent,
table, and chair, and three pairs of mule trunks (to which
extent our personal luggage was limited), all of uniform
pattern, and brand new. Each of us was restricted to
two personal servants and two riding horses with their
grooms, whilst all in common shared the benefits pro-
vided by the mess establishment. The whole of the
carriage, the pitching and striking of the tents, and, in
fact, the entire camp arrangements were organised with
military precision ; and from first to last, as our subse-
quent very grateful experience testified, were most
admirably conducted under the able supervision of
Captain E. F. Chapman, E.H.A., of the Quarter-Master
General's Department, to whom this arduous duty was
committed.

On the 15th July, after a couple of days' halt at
Murree, the advance party marched en route for Srin-
aggar, under command of Captain J. Biddulph, 19th
Hussars, A.D.C. to the Viceroy. His party consisted of
Captain H. Trotter, E.E., and his native surveyor Abdus-
Subhan and assistants; Dr Ferdinand Stoliczka, Ph.D.,
of the Geological Survey of India, and his native taxi-
dermist; Kasaidar Afzal Khan, llth B.C., A.D.C. to Mr
Forsyth ; Hospital Assistant Asmat Ali and the escort of
Infantry, Corps of Guides — ten men with a non-com-
missioned officer — in charge of the tosliakhana or " pre-
sents"— with camp servants.

38 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Four days later, the head-quarters' camp with Colonel
T. E. Gordon, of the Adjutant General's Department, in
command, followed on the same route. His party
comprised Captain Chapman and myself ; Corporal A.
Ehind, 92d Highlanders, Camp Sergeant ; Munshi
Fyz Bakhsh, Persian Secretary to Mr Forsyth ; Tara
Sing, Treasurer and Accountant ; the Mess Establish-
ment; Hospital Dispenser; Jamadar Siffat Khan with
ten troopers Cavalry Corps of Guides, and camp servants,
and stores, and the reception tents and establishment of
the Envoy and Plenipotentiary.

Such was the composition of the head-quarters' camp
of the Kashghar Embassy as it set out from Murree on
the morning of the 19th July 1873. The rainy season
had already set in, and we were prepared to encounter
some storms and showers on the few inarches that would
carry us beyond the limits of the monsoon ; but we did
hope to make our start in one of those breaks in the
heavy charged mass of clouds which so frequently occur
on the hills to mitigate the oppressive gloom of the
season, and enliven into activity for a short interval the
suppressed energies of their animal life, to exhibit in full
grandeur the magnificence of their forests and glorious
panorama of mountain scenery, and to call forth from all
sides a chorus of praise and joy from bird and beast and
man.

No such enjoyable respite was our lot. On the con-
trary, our party started on the march before us in a
down-pour of rain such as I have rarely witnessed, and
which did a good deal to wash off the bright polish of
our new camp equipage, and test the mettle of our men
and cattle. Some little delay occurred in loading and
starting the 105 mules and ponies, and the three or four
score coolies which composed our caravan of transport,

DEPARTURE FROM MURREE. 39

but a little temper and patience soon saw all fairly off
the ground, and in as good order and more cheerful
spirits than were to be expected under the circumstances.
Fortunately the march to Dewal was a short one, and a
halt there the next day enabled us to dry our tents and
the contents of our boxes. On the 21st we marched ten
miles down to Kohala, and there halted the next day.
We found a grateful shelter from the stifling heat in
this deep and narrow passage of the Jhelam in the dak-
bungalow, whilst our camp filled the compound, and
spread along the river bank above its causeway, which
we found obstructed in some places by landslips from
the slope above.

On the 23rd we resumed our march, and, crossing the
swift-surging torrent of the river by a neat little chain
suspension bridge a little way beyond the bungalow
and its bazar, entered Kashmir territory. From the
bridge — where, previous to its construction in 1870,
the passage was effected by ferry boat, with at all times
more or less of hazard, and too often of loss — there are
two routes to the Happy Valley, as the basin of Kashmir
is appropriately designated, and both unite at Chikar,
where the rise out of the low valley of the Jhelam com-
mences. The shortest, but the most difficult, is that
directly over the Danna hill ; the other winds round it to
the northward through the valley of the Jhelam.

We followed the latter, and, by the successive stages
of Chattar, Kara, Thandali, Hattyan, and Chikar, arrived
at Chakoti, where we halted a day, and breathed again
freely the cool mountain air, which after the simmering
heats and worrying mosquitos of the lower hollows was
most refreshing to men and cattle alike.

The heat in these little hollows— full as they are with
terraced rice cultivation, and shut in on all sides by lofty

40 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

mountains — is at this season insupportable, and severely
tried our cattle and followers. I felt it much more
exhausting than anything I have experienced at the
same time of year in the open plains of India — in the
Pan jab at least. There the heat is high enough, but
the air is light and moving, and there is ample breath-
ing room. Here, on the contrary, the sun's rays shine
through a stratum of dense vapour, which floats about
the mountain tops, and loads the limited atmosphere in
the deep shut-in hollows between them with a heavy,
stagnant, steamy air which bears one down by the very
weight of its oppression.

The route, however, is a well frequented one, and is
doubtless familiar to many a Kashmir tourist. I need
not, therefore, tarry over its description more than to
note that at each stage — which is usually fixed on a
small flat of some talus as it shelves down to the
channel of the river — is a rest house of primitive con-
struction, but none the less of welcome shelter. These
bungalows have been built by the Kashmir government
for the convenience of travellers and tourists, and their
accommodation is free ; but attendance and supplies are
not provided, though the latter are usually obtainable in
the vicinity.

On this occasion of our journey, however, we at each
stage found an abundant supply of all sorts of provisions
for ourselves and followers, with cattle, coolies, and all
sorts of camp forage which the Kashmir officials had
collected for the use of the embassy. But this super-
abundance and assiduous attention was quite exceptional,
and only called forth by the special occasion.

On our march along this portion of the route — which
is, compared with the hills on the British side of the
river, very sparsely peopled — we witnessed the different

A SINGLE CORD ROPE BRIDGE. 41

modes by which the natives are in the habit of crossing
the river.

Owing to its rapids, and the huge boulders obstruct-
ing its channel, the stream is neither fordable nor pass-
able by boat, and the means adopted for crossing it
depend on the nature of the locality selected for the
passage. Thus the Nynsukh, just above its junction
with the Jhelam (or, as it is here called, the Bedasta) at
Kara, is crossed by a rope bridge of the kind called ndra.
It is a single cord stretched across from bank to bank,
and secured on either side to some projecting rock or
firmly set tree. The banks here overhang the river in
high vertical precipices, and appeared to me at least 150
feet apart. The cord is furnished with a loop cradle
which is slung on to it by a forked piece of wood. This
last forms the upper part of the cradle which, when once
adjusted, is irremovable from the cord, though it slides
freely backwards and forwards on it by shaking the cord.

From our camp, on the opposite side of the Jhelam, I
watched this very frail-looking arrangement with much
interest, in the hope of seeing it used, for on the steep
slopes of either bank I could detect no path leading to
or from it ; but after a while, not finding my curiosity so
speedily gratified, I stationed my servant outside the
tent with directions to warn me so soon as he saw any-
body approach the spot I indicated. Presently he
reported a man coming down the hill side. His colour
was so much that of the ground that I did not readily
distinguish his form until a pair of lank legs caught my
eye overtopping a projecting rock, and picking a way
along what now appeared as a mere goat track. I fol-
lowed the course of their owner over the short inter-
vening space to the bridge, and as he approached found
I had been watching a nearly naked mountaineer as

42 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

thin and poor as the coolies in our camp, his brethren—
and our own too in the light of our common Aryan
descent. He had a small bundle tied on his back. It
looked like a kid-skin of flour on which was placed a
folded blanket — signs which betokened that our friend
was bound on a journey, for amongst these people of few
wants, and not more intellect, the wallet of parched
barley meal and the coverlet of coarse wool are the
humble representatives of those varied luxuries and
multifarious requisites that constitute the travelling ac-
companiments of civilised man.

Arrived at the bridge our interesting subject hitched
up his bundle by a jerk of the tattered scarf that held it,
and tightening the ends over one shoulder and under the
other arm secured the knot across the chest. He then
cast a hasty and timid glance all round, and, without
any direct examination of the thread on which he was
about to trust his life, cautiously stepped down to the
edge of the rock, pulled the cradle to him, seated him-
self in the loop, the sides of its single cord passing
between his flank and arm on each side, and pushing off
from the bank shot at once half way across. And now
commenced the exciting part of the passage.

In the outset the cradle with its freight slid down
the slope of the cord with rapidity and ease, but mid-
way was brought to a stand in the sag produced by its
weight, and our venturesome traveller was seen sus-
pended in mid-air over a rushing, roaring, and foaming
torrent below. He rested a moment to allow the vibra-
tion of the cord to cease, and then commenced to finish
the transit. This he did by seizing the cord with both
hands and propelling himself forward by a sudden jerk
of the legs, grabbing it a foot or two in advance ; and
so on by a repetition of this process he worked his way

MANNER OF USING IT. 43

up the slope to the other bank. At each move forward
he held firm hold for a moment or two to time the jerk
with the vibration of the cord and ease the wooden sling
working upon it by that act of propulsion.

The process must be quite as laborious and hazardous
as it appeared to my unaccustomed eye, though the
people about assured me it was very simple and safe,
and that accidents rarely happened though the bridge
was in constant use. The cord, I was informed, is nothing
but a close, thick, and strong twist of a long climbing
plant mixed with the straight twigs of a species of indigo-
fera, both of which grow in plenty on the slopes of all
these hills ; but the cradle and shore fastenings are of
raw hide in addition. These bridges are only used
where the banks are very steep and the stretch across
not very wide. They require repair every year, but are
very strong and capable of crossing horses and sheep,
which are for the purpose slung in the cradle as usual,
and let gently down one slope by paying out a rope
attached to it, and hauled up the other by a similar
arrangement.

On the following day at Thandali, the next stage
beyond Kara, we saw the river crossed in quite a diffe-
rent manner, and the only one the locality admitted of.
Here the ground forms a low flat semicircular reach but
little raised above the channel of the river, whilst the
opposite bank shelves precipitously to the water's edge ;
thus affording no points of holdfast for the ndra or
" cord bridge," nor presenting suitable spots for the piers
of ihQJhula or " swing bridge "which we saw further on.

Heavy rain fell during our night's stay at Kara, and
amongst other accidents brought my tent down upon me
by the snapping short at the joint of two of the three
poles that supported it so inefficiently. I was fast asleep

44 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

at the time, but the tremendous weight that overpressed
me — worse than any nightmare — soon roused me to a
sense of impending suffocation. By an instinctive effort
my arms raised up the load of weighted canvass enough
to allow of my slipping out of bed, but only to find my
feet pressing a sodden carpet, spongy as a bog, on the
water-logged turf beneath it. Crouching under the
prop of my boxes I extricated myself from the ruins in
miserable plight, and passed two of the longest hours of
my life, coiled up in some damp and musty horse clothing
on the top of a mule trunk in one corner of the veran-
dah till daylight dispersed the darkness and revealed
the only sound pole already arrived at an angle of forty-
five in its desertion of the perpendicular. My erstwhile
vainly repeated summons — unheard in the pattering of
the rain and the roaring of the Jhelam whose clamour,
in the hush of night, reigned supreme and sole, with an
intensity magnified by the absence of that hum of
activity which enlivens the day with the varied sounds
of animal life — now brought my servants to my aid. A
few minutes sufficed to set matters right, and then, in a
more comfortable mood of body and mind, looking
around the scene of my troubles I congratulated myself
on the better judgment that resisted the promptings of
the moment to essay the shelter of the dak-bungalow
hard by. The house, I knew, was already fully occupied
by the tourist families we found in it on arrival, but its
verandah would have afforded a dry corner could it be
reached. This was just the difficulty I felt in the dark-
ness, and its nature was now apparent, for the space
between us, though hardly more than a hundred yards,
if as much, was covered with a variety of harmful
obstructions. The faggots of firewood, bundles of hay,
sacks of barley, and piles of mule gear, with coiled-up

AN INCIDENT OF CAMP LIFE. 45

knots of benumbed coolies and shivering ponies which
the Kashmir officials had collected here for our use,
blocked the way everywhere in the picturesque disorder
characteristic of the ways of native camp life.

This heavy rain somewhat delayed our departure, and
it was ten o'clock before our camp got away from Kara.
The mid-day heat and the heavy stifling atmosphere of
Thandali proved very trying to our cattle and men, and
justify the numbering of this march amongst the list of
those the most memorable for hardship on our long
journey.

At Thandali we found the river in full flood, its bois-
terous current rushing away with quantities of drift, and
presenting an appearance far from inviting a swim across
its stream'. Yet it was here we saw it crossed on the
sliindz, which I was about to describe just now when I
digressed to the record of the above personal incident
as illustrative of the mishaps of camp life.

The shindz, which is commonly used on the Indus, and
other rivers of the Panjab, is merely an inflated hide
either of the ox or goat. Those we saw here were of the
latter animal, and were formed of two separate skins
lashed together. Each was separately inflated by blow-
ing through a wooden vent fixed in one of the fore-legs
of the hide, and closed by a plug of the same material.
The little float thus formed was then held on the edge of
the stream till the rider, striding across it, passed each
leg through a loop of strapping hanging like a stirrup
leather on each side, and, holding each vent plug in
either hand, lay his chest upon the hides, and plunged
out into the foaming torrent, paddling with arms and
legs as in the act of swimming. Much dexterity and
skill are required in the proper management of these
wonderful little floats to prevent a sudden capsize. We

46 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

saw several men out on the shindz in quest of the drift
borne down by the flood, and to judge from the ease and
confidence with which each guided his awkward little
craft, they must be practically familiar with its use in
this place. The courage with which they buffetted the
breakers, and the dexterity with which they avoided the
whirl of the rapids, were no less astonishing than the
skill with which they secured a passing waif, and the
firmness with which they rode as their buoyant supports
were borne bounding over the wave tops.

On this occasion we saw the river crossed under excep-
tionally difficult conditions. In the ordinary state of the
current the passage is a simpler matter, and admits of a
bundle being carried on the back of the passenger who,
if he cannot paddle himself over, may be towed across by
another who can.

In the times of the Mughol and Afghan the shindz
was in much more frequent use than it has been under
the more settled government that has succeeded their
turbulent rule in this country. It was then the means by
wrhich robber bands crossed either to harry their neigh-
bour's territory, or to escape the pursuit of their enemies,
as from its portability and ready adjustment it proved
a safe and expeditious mode of overcoming the water
obstructions of the country. About midway between
Eara and Thandali, and on the opposite side of the river,
a little above the junction of the Kishanganga with the
Jhelam, is the town of Muzaffarabad, where are the ruins
of a large sarae of the Mughol period. The Afghans,
when they held Kashmir, kept a garrison here for the
protection of the road, which was in their time infested
by robber bands. This road which, from Muzaffarabad
onwards to Baramulla, runs parallel to the route we fol-
lowed on the opposite side of the river, is known as the

THE JH&LA OR "SWING BRIDGE." 47

Durrani road of Pakli and Damtaur, and is the easiest
and most practicable of all the routes leading to Kash-
mir, being open all the year round.

At Hattyan, the next stage beyond Thandali, we saw
the " swing bridge," or jhula, which I have before men-
tioned. There were two of them, within sight of each
other, between Hatty an and Garhi. The latter is a con-
siderable village on the opposite side of the river, which
here flows in a wide channel flanked by high banks,
the stream itself varying in breadth from fifty or sixty
to a hundred and fifty or more yards.

The jhula consists of three ropes stretched across the
stream, at a height of eight or ten feet, between two
buttress piers, built up of loose boulders and brush-
wood faggots, at the edges of the current. Each pier
slopes as a causeway on the land side, and drops as a
wall towards the water, whilst in its substance are im-
bedded several strong upright posts as supports for the
bridge ropes. These ropes are disposed across from side
to side in a triangular form,, so that a cross section would
mark the points of a capital V, thus V — two parallel
ropes forming the upper plane, and a central one the lower
plane. This disposition is maintained throughout the
stretch by large V shaped prongs of wood, which, at inter-
vals of four or five yards, are secured in position above
and below by thongs of raw hide, and further strength-
ened above by a cording which is passed across between
the two upper points where they are fixed to those ropes.

The stretch of the bridge was about eighty yards, and it
hung with a considerable bend by its own weight, whilst
the wind swayed it from side to side in an alarming
manner. It is crossed by the passenger walking on the
lower of the ropes, which is sometimes of double or treble
strand, and holding his balance with the hands on the upper

48 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

ropes, which run at each side on a level with his shoulders.
I saw four men cross this bridge at the same 'time, and two
of them carried bundles on their backs. They followed each
other at intervals of four or five paces, and were careful to
walk "out of step" so as to prevent the dangerous undu-
lation which would have jerked them off their narrow foot-
ing had they kept "in step." As they arrived at the prongs
in succession they cautiously "ducked" under the cross
cords, and I noticed that only one man at a time passed
between any two of the prongs. The weight of these four
men bore down the bridge, in the middle of its span, quite
to the surface of the water, and, indeed, I saw one man's
feet immersed in the crest of a wave. The shock of this
"catch" did not, as I expected it would, throw him off
his footing, but it set the whole loop a swinging and
vibrating in a manner most uncomfortable to witness.
The commotion, however, did not for a moment stop the
progress of the passengers, and I saw them land on the
other side, and take their several ways without ever a
glance back at the awkward path they had trodden so
skilfully, or, most probably, a thought of the peril they
had escaped.

At this place the charger of one of our guide's cavalry
escort, whilst being led along by the groom, fell over
the bank, a sheer drop of sixty to eighty feet, into the
river, and was borne by the current to a small island
flat in its mid-stream, a little way lower down. The
unfortunate creature was there found to have broken a
thigh bone, and was consequently put out of suffering
by a bullet through the head. Captain Chapman crossed
over on a shindz for this merciful duty. This accident
at the outset of our march was the only loss that befell
the troop horses of our little escort in all our journey.
From Hattyan our next stage was to Chikar, where the

VALLEY OF THE JHELAM RIVER. 49

Danna road from Kohala joins the main route. At this
place we quitted the low, hot valley of the Jhelam, and
beyond it rose up to the cool forest tracts, which on this
side of the river extend on to the entrance of the Wolar
basin — the renowned Vale of Kashmir (Kashi Merii ?) —
at Baramulla.

The change was no less agreeable on account of the
improved climate than on that of the finer scenery. At
Dewal and Kohala we left behind us the forests that
give the Murree hills their charm, and, crossing the river
at the latter place, entered quite a different climate and
country.

From Kohala to Chikar our route lay through the
narrow winding pass of the river Jhelam, over an in-
terrupted talus strip, cut at intervals by vdeep ravines,
through which pour the torrent feeders of the main
stream below. On its shelving slopes are terraced flats
of rice and maize cultivation, and the homesteads of its
peasantry, surrounded by their orchards and hedges.
Between these occupied plots the general surface of the
uneven tract is set with a more or less abundant brush-
wood jungal, of which the dodonsea, carissa, wild olive,
barberry, jujube, adhatoda, &c., with the wild fig, rottlera,
and other such trees, are the chief components.

Above this river-bank tract the hills slope away to
lofty peaks, presenting, in infinite variety of surface, a
vast extent of uniformly verdant pasture, which (broken
by neither rock nor forest) spreads up their sides to the
highest summits.

At Chikar we left this tame scene, and passed on to a
wooded region, the pine and cedar forests of which vie
in magnificence with the majestic heights they clothe,
and afford many a prospect — alone well worth the jour-
ney— to gaze upon.

50 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Our next stage on was to Chakoti, where we halted a
day. On this march we passed some small camps of
Gipsies, generically styled kanjar, on the tramp to the
Happy Valley. They were as ragged, conservative, and
happy in their dirt and poverty, as they are found to be
elsewhere, and to judge from their naked forms were as
indifferent to the cool breezes of the mountains as they
are to the hot blasts of the plains. We also met some
large caravans of Mt — the " costum" of the ancients —
bound to Eawal Pindi. We had met several of these
convoys on the three or four preceding marches, during
which we also overtook some Peshawar traders driving
their small convoys of twelve and fifteen mules, laden
with asafoetida and snuff respectively, to the Srinaggar
market ; but on this occasion I noticed three convoys,
said to consist of eighty bullocks each. I learned from
one of the drivers that the- root was collected on the hills
near the Zojila pass, and when we arrived there I got
some specimens of the plant by sending a man off into
the hills to fetch them. The driver told me that each
bullock carried two maunds of Jcut, and that the drug
was bought by the merchants at Eawal Pindi, at the rate
of a rupee per ser of two pounds. Some idea of the
quantity of this root which is annually carried out of
Kashmir may be formed from the approximate data I
got from this man. The 240 loads of this drug which
we met on this day — and its peculiar odour loaded the
air around — represent, at eighty pounds per maund, a
total of 38,400 pounds of fcut, worth at Kawal Pindi
19,200 rupees. We had already, in the previous stages,
passed nearly as large a quantity,, and my informant
assured me that several similar convoys would follow
during the next three weeks.

It appears that anybody can go and collect the roots

THE " CO STUM" OF THE ANCIENTS. 51

where they grow, but the peasantry of the vicinity are
usually employed to do so. The plant grows wild and
in great abundance in certain localities, and I could
learn of no restrictions or regulations concerning its
collection. The root is largely consumed in India in the
service of the Hindu temples, and is exported from
Bombay to China, where it is used as incense.

In the umbrageous gullies and ravines about Chakoti,
I added several specimens to the collection of little birds
I had been shooting on the march up, but none so beau-
tiful as a white bird of paradise with a long, graceful
tail, and a bright purple green beak ; and the male of the
same species, but of a russet colour. On arrival at
Srinaggar, I despatched a tin-lined case of these birds
to India, whence, in the following year, they were sent
home. On opening the cases — for two others of the five
I filled shared a like fate by spending a rainy season in
Calcutta — the tin was found honeycombed with rust,
and the contents utterly destroyed by the ravages of the
weevil. Fortunately the birds collected north of Leh
escaped this exposure, and arrived in sound condition.

The march from Chakoti to Uri is picturesque, but
trying to laden cattle, owing to the steep ascents and
descents across the succession of deep ravines that cut
the road, which is otherwise good, and shaded. There is
a good deal of cultivation on the route, fields of rice,
maize, cotton, and pulse, of the kind called mdh, occupy-
ing the terraced flats on each side of the way. In the
intervals between these productive patches the road is
hedged about by the filbert and jujube, the pomegranate
and mulberry, the fig and apricot, the diospyrus (called
amluJc), and pear, with the grape vine twining in intricate
leafy coils amongst them ; all in the wild state — excelling
in foliage, failing in fruit.

52 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Our camp at Uri was pitched, between the fort and
the stage bungalow, on a high shelf of turf land backed
by hills of charming aspect, rich in the variety of their
forest foliage, and glad in their pastures of brightest
green. This is the prettiest spot we have yet camped
on, and the clear, sunny sky spread above the fleecy
vapours floating about the hill-tops favoured us with a
view of the scenery in its full beauty ; whilst the mea-
sure of its enjoyment, in the calm that comes with the
fading light of a setting sun, was filled by the grateful
notes of the bagpipe — the music, of all others, in har-
mony with the occasion. It was the first time our camp
sergeant, Corporal Ehind, a piper of the 92nd High-
landers, tuned his pipes on the march ; and he could not
have selected a more fit opportunity for the essay of
those performances with which he so often enlivened the
dull hours of our subsequent experience.

The fort is a mud structure, capable of accommodating
a garrison of 200 men, and looks up and down the river
from the edge of a high cliff which here projects into
one of its many bends. Below it is a jh-fila, or " swing
bridge," by which the Muzaffarabad road, on the opposite
side, is reached.

The march from Uri to Urihan Boin (the n of the last
word is nasal) is through a most interesting tract by a
good road, which now runs across the face of precipitous
hills that overtop lofty cliffs dropping straight to the
river — itself a foaming rapid, surging with ceaseless
tumult down the gorge — and anon winds through shady
forests of the stately cedar and umbrageous plane, of the
comely sycamore and the bounteous walnut, with the
familiar hawthorn and favourite hazel amongst a host of
others, each with its special uses or peculiar beauties.

About midway on the march we passed the ruins of a

JtUINS OF ANCIENT TEMPLES. 53

temple of the early Hindu period. The massive blocks
of its carefully chiselled limestone, in the confusion of
their heap, revealed only the basement of the central
temple and the portal of the quadrangle which once en-
closed it ; and there was nobody to tell the history of
those who in the solitude of its cloisters worshipped the
Supreme Essence in the midst of surroundings eminently
favouring the attainment of their desire — the final ab-
sorption into the object of their devotion, the Supreme
Essence, the Universal Creator, the Author of all
Nature.

On the next march we passed a similar ruin in a more
perfect state of preservation. It is built of great blocks
of amygdaloid trap, and is called Banihar (or Ban
Vihara — " The forest monastery "). In the centre of the
space enclosed by the quadrangle of cloisters stood the
temple, on the top of a solid basement which was as-
cended by a flight of steps facing the gateway. The
upper part had evidently been renewed, and when we
passed was occupied by a poor Brahmin who attended to
the service of the two emblems that stood on the altar —
a small stone lingam set in the yuni, anointed with oil
and garlanded with flowers — the worship of a degraded
Brahmanism in the place of a departed mystic Budhism.
At Baramulla there are side by side other relics of both
religious systems, and amongst them a lingam or priapus
cut out of a solid block of sandstone, about four feet in
diameter and sixteen feet high, and set on a masonry
platform little above the level of the encroaching turf.

The last miles of this march are singularly interesting,
and mark the spot at which the basin beyond burst its
bounds and drained its contents through the gorge now
occupied by the Bedasta or Jhelam. The road lies at the
foot of stupendous cliffs of slate, the vertical strata of

54 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

which correspond exactly with the formation of the rock
on the opposite bank just below Uri, a distance of ten
miles down the gorge.

From the similarity of geological phenomena at these
spots of similar appellation I was curious to ascertain
whether there was any connection between them to
account for the coincidence, but my inquiries failed to
elicit any reason for such supposition, though they
afforded a clue to the designations of the two localities.

In the Kashmiri language, or, as it is here called,
Kashuri, uri is the name of a tree — a species of the
coesalpinia — which abounds in the forests of the vicinity ;
and boin is also the name of a tree — the oriental plane,
the cliinar of the vernacular dialect — which forms so
prominent a feature in the landscape of the valley. Uri,
therefore, may be rendered Anglice — "The coesalpinia
trees," and Urihan Boin (the first word is the oblique
plural of uri) as " The casalpinia and plane trees,"
though — if my memory serves aright — I saw no repre-
sentative of the first named at either place. There is
another tree, however, of very similar name, which is
common in both the localities. It is the wurri or " fil-
bert," and may with as much propriety as the first be
taken as the derivative of the topographical name.

Leaving Urihan Boin we marched to Baramulla, and
camped — on the 1st of August — a little above the fort
on the river bank, and just within the area of the Kash-
mir basin whose wide plain, encircled by a glorious
panorama of hills, spread out before us a charming land-
scape and most inviting picture, with the option of pro-
ceeding by land or water ; for from this point up to
Islamabad at the opposite side of the valley the Bedasta,
or Behut, as it is here called, is navigated.

Our last march into the valley partook of the delightfully

THE « KADDAL" BRIDGE. 55

refreshing character of the two preceding stages, but on
emerging from the hills we parted from the grand scenery
of their majestic heights for the soft champaign of the
plain ; which, however, possesses peculiar attractions of
its own, no less grateful to the senses it lulls to repose
with a calm pleasure than are healthful the exhilarat-
ing air and inspiriting scenery of the mountain tracts
around.

At three or four miles out from camp we passed the
ruins of Banihar, an ancient Hindu monastery of the
flourishing period of Budhism, which I have already
mentioned. On the opposite side of the road are a few
suttlers' huts, at which the traveller can refresh himself
and beast.

At Baramulla we saw the first of those extraordinary
constructions which form so peculiar a feature of the
river scene at Srinaggar — a new form of bridge, in the
variety of which structures this country seems so
prolific.

It spans the river just above the town on a succession
of six piers, and is composed entirely of undressed logs
of pine and cedar timber. The whole tree trunk, in
fact, lopped of its branches. The strongest and longest
of them, laid side by side, are stretched across from
pier to pier to form the roadway, and merely rest, with-
out any further security, by two or three feet of their
length at either end upon the tops of the opposite piers,
which may be from twenty to twenty-five feet apart.

The piers are built up of similar logs arranged side by
side in layers of a square shape, the logs of each succes-
sive layer crossing those of the other at right angles, and
lodging in notches cut in the logs below. The lowest
layers are the broadest and diminish gradually as they
ascend to the centre, above which they again expand

56 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

successively up to the top, where the logs equal in length
those at the bottom, thus giving the pier an hourglass
sort of contraction. The piers rest on a foundation of
stones embedded in the muddy bottom of the river, and
are protected against its current by a cut-water pointing
up the stream, and built of loose stones filled into a
frame of logs. Above they are furnished with upright
posts, which support the railing that runs on each side of
the roadway span.

This kind of bridge is called Jcaddal, which appears to
be the Kashuri form of the- Hindi kathan — "made of
wood," and is very strong and durable despite its
ricketty construction and very dilapidated appearance.
There are six or eight of them on the river at Srinaggar,
which bear the traffic of the two halves of the city, and
some of them are further weighted with a row of shops
on each side the way ; most perilous looking abodes
projecting in all degrees of obliquity above the main
structure, and from its sides over the stream.

The timber being cedar is very durable, and accidents
rarely occur, owing to the elasticity of the construction,
and the outlet afforded to sudden floods through the
many passages in the substance of the piers. I wit-
nessed the behaviour of these bridges in the inundation
of 1869, and though they were nearly swamped by the
flood, none of them gave way, whilst many of the
houses on the river's bank — the one I occupied amongst
the first — were completely destroyed.

CHAPTEK II.

FROM Baramulla our camp marched to Pattan, and
halted a day under the shade of some magnificent plane
trees, from the high - spreading boughs of which the
golden oriole whistled out his plaintive cry, and the
starling chattered in convivial company. I measured the
girth of the two trees beneath whose shade my tent was
pitched ; and, taking them at about five feet from the
ground, found the one to be twenty feet round the clear
trunk, and the other twenty-one feet two inches.

At this place there are the ruins of two ancient
temples, built of blue limestone, carefully chiselled and
carved, in the same massive and enduring style as those
before mentioned, and like those of Martand, at the
further end of the valley, supposed to be dedicated to
the sun. There is also in course of erection, almost
within a stone-throw of them, but of just the opposite
characters, one of those hideous-looking constructions—
those rambling blocks of mud and stone and raw brick,
whose patchwork walls are kept together in their erratic
lines by a lumbering frame of rough logs and undressed
planks — which are making their appearance in all parts
of the valley for the rearing of silkworms ; an industry
recently introduced by the Maharaja as a government
monopoly.

"Whilst wandering, gun in hand, amongst these elo-
quent witnesses of the civilisation of the past and of the
present in this historic land, I shot some specimens of

53 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

the Kashmir cuckoo, and a beautifully coloured bee-eater ;
and then mounting the high clay banks to the right got
a wide view of the valley and its lake-basin lying ahead
of our position.

After the scenery we had just come through, the view
spread before us was in its immediate objects not alto-
gether so pleasing. The wide stretch of reed swamp
belting the Wolar lake, and the scattered farmsteads
and hamlets marking the accessible borders of this pes-
tiferous tract, from their dead level and unvaried repe-
tition of the same elements wherever the eye turned in
the survey of the landscape, proved if not disappointing,
at least unattracting. But the coup d'ceil beyond —
the tout ensemble of the valley and its surroundings —
presented a prospect worthy of admiration, unique of its
kind, and exceeding in extent of scope, as it excels in
point of beauty, anything that is to be found elsewhere
within the range of vision from a single point of view.
Projecting on to the plain from various points of its
circumference are those strange banks of lacustrine
deposit — here called karewa — which mark a former coast
line, and interpose their bare promontories to break the
even spread of grove and field, and to improve the land-
scape by variety in the form of its unchanging elements.
Between them are the wide sweeping gulfs and bays,
and the tributary valleys that shelter the rural popula-
lation and reward their toil with the fruits of a grateful
soil. Whilst above them all rises that glorious circle of
mountains which constitute the natural limit of the
region and the most remarkable feature of its scenery —
their belts of black forest and slopes of green pasture
showing in vivid contrast with the snowy summits and
glistening peaks that form the crowning beauty of the
whole.

VISIT FROM DIWAN BADRI NA TH. 5 9

Soon after our arrival at Pattan we received a visit
from Diwan Badri Nath, a high official of the Kashmir
court, who, on the part of his Highness the Maharaja,
welcomed us to Srinaggar, and delivered the friendly
messages he was charged with with an innate suavity
and politeness of manner quite charming in themselves,
and the more appreciable, because they were not mere
empty words, as the arrangements for the comfort of our
march thus far abundantly proved.

In the afternoon I accompanied Colonel Gordon to
return his visit, and next morning they rode off to-
gether in advance to select a site for our camp, which is
to halt some days at Srinaggar to equip our men and
cattle with warm clothing for the journey across the
passes. We followed with the camp next morning, and
on arrival at the river-bank below the city were met by
Pandit Hira Nand, chief of the city police, who was
awaiting us with one of the Maharaja's state barges to
convey us by water to the Nasim Bagh, where Captain
Biddulph's party was camped.

Captain Chapman and I accordingly took our seats on
the chairs set for us under the canopy of the pinnace,
and were paddled up to our destination by thirty boat-
men, whilst the camp, crossing at the first bridge, fol-
lowed the land route, and joined the advance party
under Captain Biddulph, whose camp we found pitched
on the shore of the Ball lake, under the shade of the
plane trees of the celebrated park here laid out by the
Emperor Akbar — the Nasim Bagh.

The trip up the river was a very agreeable change,
particularly in the gorgeous and swift conveyance which
had been so very thoughtfully provided for us, for
the march was a long one, and the sun nearing the
meridian was growing uncomfortably strong. And it

60 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

was no less interesting on account of the excellent river-
view of this remarkable city which we were enabled to
enjoy from the shelter of the open pavilion in which we
were seated. It was an oblong chamber built up in the
centre of the boat, and highly decorated in that intricate
pattern peculiar to the artists of Kashmir, and so well-
known for that marvellous blending of colour which,
without disturbance of harmony amongst all, presents a
groundwork of either according to the light in which it
is viewed. The shallow vaulted roof was supported
midway by pillars which divided the chamber into two
compartments, and at the sides by others which were
fitted for shutters to close the whole when necessary.
The weather being fine we found these last had been
removed, and consequently, the roof, supported on its
pillars alone, formed a canopy or pavilion open on all
sides above the panel of the basement.

The scene on either bank, as one is borne along
through the midst of the city, is bewildering by the
variety and the novelty of the sights that catch the eye
at every turn ; yet there is a sameness that pervades the
whole, and characterises it as essentially local.

The succession of bridges, under whose spans of creak-
ing and trembling logs — for arches they are not to be
called — our boat was shot with a speed against stream
hardly less than that of the more humble craft coming
down with it, are all members of one family; each a
singular repetition of the other, and all alike in their
tumbledown look, and peculiar structure, and decayed
appearance. The boats, too, which float amongst them,
our own not excepted, in all their different sizes and
various fittings, are of one shape and one resemblance.
Whether it be the light and painted state-barge, or the
ponderous and unadorned rice-boat ; whether it be the

RIVER VIEW OF SRINAGGAR. 61

swift pinnace with its elegant canopy and many paddles,
or the more leisurely travelling-boat, with its mat roof
and mud-built cooking-range ; or whether it be the skiff
of the fisherman and fowler, or the punt of the market-
gardener and caltrops-picker, they are all of one pattern
and one build — a flat keelless bottom, straight ribless
sides, and tapering ends that rise out symmetrically fore
and aft, prow and stern alike for advance or retreat.

Of such form, these boats are well suited for the con-
veyance of heavy burthens on a smooth stream; but
they are most dangerous craft on rough water. From
the wide hold they take of the water they gain buoy-
ancy in respect to freight, but they lose it in the matter
of riding. Instead of rising over the waves they present
an obstacle over which they break, and the surf pouring
over the low sides soon swamps the vessel.

The natives rarely venture far away from shore in
heavily-laden boats, and when crossing the Wolar lake
usually coast along its sides so that, if per chance caught
by one of the squalls which so often sweep its surface,
they can run as to a safe port into the belt of weeds
bordering its shores ; for here the water-lily, duckweed,
and caltrops, with other aquatic plants, cover the water
with a continuous spread of broad leaves which float on
the surface and prevent its being disturbed by the wind.

But to return to the river view. The mass of houses
built on the masonry embankments which rise out of
the water on either hand, and display here and there
amongst the varied components of their structure the
chiselled blocks of some ancient palace or temple, inces-
santly draw the eyes from side to side by the attraction
of some new form, and present a spectacle no less novel
in character than strangely diverse in its uniformity as a
whole.

62 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

The gable roofs, with their untidy thatch of beech
bark and their attic lofts open at both ends, rest so in-
securely upon the loose-jointed frame of upright poles
they cover that they seem ready to fly away with the
first gale of wind, and certainly constitute the most pecu-
liar feature of the architecture everywhere. Whether
on the king's palace or the peasant's cottage, on the
merchant's store or the mechanic's shop, or whether
on the Hindu's barrack or the Musalman's mosque, this
draughty log-built roof is the same in character on all.

The edifices it surmounts present a greater variety of
structure, though in all — except in the palaces and Hindu
temples, which are built throughout of solid masonry —
the framework of upright poles fixed upon a raised plat-
form of masonry forms the skeleton. This framework is
held together by cross-trees and rafters and closed in,
tier above tier, either by a planking of rough-split logs
or a thin wall of bricks and mortar. The interior par-
titions are of lath and plaster, and the compartments
are lighted very much less than they are ventilated — as
many a tourist in the "Happy Valley" must have dis-
covered to his cost in comfort — by those lattice windows,
so rich in the variety and elegance of their designs,
which are, with the carved woodwork of the portals, the
most agreeable features of Kashmir architectural clecora--
tion ; so far at least as exterior appearance is concerned,
for the matter of interior comfort is quite another con-
sideration, and dependent for its merits upon the views
or means of the occupants.

Glass windows are unknown out of the palaces and the
mansions of the wealthy. The lattice window supplies
their place, and how inefficiently may be readily under-
stood when one learns that the only device adopted for
keeping out the wind is a sheet of paper pasted over the

CHARACTER OF THE ARCHITECTURE. 63

fretwork, whilst the cold air pouring in over the open
coping is considered out of reach and submitted to as a
matter of course.

The very general use of timber for house-building in
Kashmir, and the loose putting together of the beams
and logs, is said to be necessitated by the frequency of
earthquakes in the country. It seems, however, that
other causes are not without potent influence in deter-
mining the preference. And notably the character of
the people for physical inactivity — a trait which is ex-
emplified in the nature of all their industries.

Their shawls and embroideries, their silver work and
papier-mache-painting, their stone-engraving and wood-
carving, &c., all alike exhibit proofs of wonderful
delicacy and minute detail, but tell of no active expen-
diture of muscular force. Where this is required, as in
house-building, we find it exercised only to the smallest
extent absolutely indispensable fo"r the attainment of the
object desired. Hence, though stone is abundant and
more durable, the easily-felled and floated timber is put
together in a style of unfinish altogether independent of
adaptation to stability under the conditions assigned.
Doubtless the humid character of the climate and the
soft nature of the soil may have their share of influence,
which must not be overlooked. But with the relics of
ancient edifices of ponderous stone and the existing
buildings of substantial masonry before us on the spot,
these conditions, it would appear, offer no serious ob-
stacle to a more finished and substantial style of architec-
ture to that which is in vogue here. Such as they are,
however, the houses of Srinaggar constitute the most

7 OO

prominent feature in the view of the city as seen on the
way up its stream. And more special objects amongst
them are the new houses rising on the river frontage —

64 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

very welcome signs, in their elaborate finish and straight
angles and neat lines, of the march of civilisation and
adoption of modern improvement ; the lofty piles of its
principal mosques topped with those peculiar belfry-like
towers supported midroof — testimonies to the architect's
recognition of the dictates of taste as superior to the
claims of conventional form ; and those shapeless little
idol temples of stone and mortar which, though in
the front rank on the river's bank, would be passed
unnoticed but for the glare of their tinsel and gilt
— incongruous objects in this quaint jumble of wood-
work structures. It remains to fill in the picture
with man, whose presence and activity enliven the scene
and complete the speciality of its character. In a city
so well situated as a centre for the trade of the countries
beyond the passes, one might naturally look for the
representatives of the different surrounding regions
amidst the crowd of its inhabitants, but they are not to
be found — or at least they do not appear amongst the
moving forms that pass before the eyes of the mere
traveller — in anything like the number expected.

As it is, the familiar forms of the Afghan and Sikh,
met here in so frequent recurrence, claim no such in-
terest from us as do those of the people the one ruled
in this valley not so very long ago, and the other rules
at the present time. Nor do the few members of those
little known tribes of the outlying districts of Dardistan,
Baltistan, and Bhotan who are found here as govern-
ment servants, more than excite a transient curiosity
amidst the crowd of natives which more fully attracts
the attention. It is the Hindu Pandit and the Musal-
man Kashmiri who are the chief actors in that busy
scene of life and activity which at this season meets the
eye at every turn in the river's course.

SCENES ON THE RIVER BANKS. 65

The Pandit, or Batta as he is styled by his Muham-
madan brother, if not recognised by the nicer distinctions
of manner and speech, or the difference in dress and occu-
pation, may be at once distinguished by the paint-marks
carefully set on the forehead as the tokens of his reli-
gious purity.

He is seen as the well-to-do merchant, with a party of
his fellows passing up and down the stream, seated on
the matted floor of the Srinaggar gondola, in animated
chat on the concerns of his business ; his comfortable
form bulging between the tight strings of his spotless
linen, and enveloped in the loose folds of his soft warm
shawl. Or he is found en deshabille performing his
ablutions, immersed at the edge of the current under
which his shaven head, with its lank crown-top lock,
bobs now and again as he gabbles through the formula
of his prayers ; his hands the while, held up to the sun,
pouring back to the river the drops they had raised from
it, or quickly passing through the fingers the threads of
tldQJaneo which encircles his body ; unmindful alike of the
presence of the stranger or the proximity of his women-
kind — the reputed fair Panditani — who (the latter),
in like undisguise, may be disporting herself in the
same element, or, concealed within the ample folds of her
shapeless gown, may be washing her linen or filling her
pitcher at the brink. Or else he is observed as the Brah-
min priest — his withered and emaciated form divested
of all covering but the indecent loin-clout — seated on
his hams cooking his simple fare of unleavened cakes
and pottage, and guarding scrupulously the purity of the
spot sanctified for the operation ; or, seated crosslegged
at the door of his temple, he is reciting the shastar with
a volubility equal to the swaying to and fro of his body ;

or else, motionless and silent, he is absorbed in a trance

E

66 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

of meditation, or more probably of mental torpor and
abstraction. Or lie is seen, writing-case and paper in
hand, as the civil functionary — the scribe, the notary, or
the tax-collector — in the pursuit of his special avocation,
or, as the corn chandler, on the river-barges superin-
tending the discharge of rice into the government
granaries, or its sale to the people.

The Kashmiri, or Kashuri as he styles himself, con-
stituting the bulk of the population, presents a greater
diversity of ranks and occupations. These, from the
barely clothed cooly and poverty-stricken peasant to the
richly clad merchant and wealthy proprietor, are all to
be seen in the course of a tour through the water-way of
the city. The silversmiths, lapidaries, papier-mache
artists, shawl-weavers, silk embroiderers, and other arti-
ficers are, of course, only to be seen to advantage in their
workshops on either side of the river. Here we are
concerned only with the scene on its banks, and they
consequently need no further notice in this place beyond
the mention of their general resemblance in outward
appearance to the Hindu portion of the population, from
whom they are sometimes, in the absence of the paint-
marks 01; tika, only to be distinguished by the different
folding of the turban.

The special actor on the river- scene is naturally
the boatman. His lithe, active form — bared for the
task — is seen everywhere as it bends to the rapid
strokes of his paddle ; and his merry voice, too often
raised in unseemly wrangle and vociferous vitupera-
tion, is heard above all other sounds. His family, who
live in the boat with him, are seen variously occupied
upon the banks ; the children — remarkable for their
bright eyes, and soft, pleasing features — disporting them-
selves on the limited planking of their homes moored
alongside; > whilst the mother and elder daughters are

FLOATING GARDENS OP THE DALL. 67

busy on the beach in that laborious and unsightly task
of husking their daily modicum of rice. The loose-
sleeved and very roomy shift, which, like a long night-
shirt, covers the body from neck to foot, and forms, with
the characteristic cap of red fillet, their only dress —
jerking up and down as their arms ply the pestle upon
the grain — is not the least strange sight of the many
that here amuse the visitor. And this particular one,
from the awkwardness of the implements — the pestle
being nothing but a pole of wood rounded at each end,
and the mortar a mere cup excavated in a clumsy log of
the same material — suggests reflection on the apathe-
tic character of the people, who with such an easy com-
mand of water-power can tolerate so burdensome a task.

It was through such a scene as this, the main features
of which I have attempted to delineate by words, that
we passed on our way to the Nasim Bagh. The last
part of our route wound through that series of canals
which intersect the swamps lying between the city and
Dall lake. They are at this season nearly choked by the
abundance of the water-weeds that shoot up from their
shallow bottoms to mature their fruit on the surface,
and wither and rot ; whilst their tangled meshes obstruct
the passage, and poison the air with the stench of the
mephitic odours evolved from the festering mass of their
luxuriant foliage.

Between these narrow channels are small blocks of
water-logged land, on which stand the log-huts and
orchards of the market gardeners who supply the
city with vegetables. They rise little above the level
of the water, and are divided by cross trenches
into fields, or plots whose banks are lined by rows of
willows. Between these banks, which are further sup-
ported by stakes, and raised above the general level by
heaps of the decayed weeds drawn from the bottom of

68 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

the canals, the little skiffs of the cultivators ride their
way over the mass of reeds concealing the passage from
the eye of the stranger, and thus pass from one end to
the other of this pestiferous tract of labyrinthine swamp.

The produce of these gardens are cucumbers, melons,
pumpkins, and tobacco, and that of the canals and shores
of the lakes — which is spontaneous — are the water cal-
trops or singhara — the fruit of which forms an important
item as a breadstuff in the food products of the country,
and is under government protection — and the nidar, or
root-stalk of the water-lily (whose beautiful pink flowers
are the pdnpawsh of the Dall lake) which is largely con-
sumed as a vegetable. Passing beyond these canals, we
entered the circular pool, called the Dall, by one of those
clear passages between the reed beds which stretch
across its centre, and came upon the floating gardens.
These are formed of strips of decayed weeds which have
been fished up from the bottom of the lake by means of
a pole dexterously twisted amongst their long fibres.
They are staked to the bottom where they float by long
poles, and are covered above with small heaps of earth
in which the melon seed is sown. They are capable of
supporting the weight of two or three men at a time ;
but great caution is necessary to prevent the feet break-
ing through their flimsy, rotten structure.

On the lake we found a number of little skiffs, each
with its single occupant, dotted about the surface.
Here, in the line of our route, were two or three weighed
down with the pile of weeds their owners were poling up
from below for the repair of their floating melon beds, or
maybe for the formation of a new one. There, along
the shore, were a whole bevy of women, each paddling
her own canoe with the one hand, whilst the other was
rapidly plucking the duckweed that overspreads the sur-

THE DEATH OF "JINGO." 69

face, and throwing it into the hollow behind her with an
eager haste, as though there was not enough to meet the
wants of all. It is a favourite fodder for cattle, and is said
to improve the milk of kine fed upon it. Further away,
on the calm, open surface of the lake, rode motionless
three or four boats as if moored to so many stakes, whilst
the occupant of each, reclining crouched up, composed
himself, head resting at the post, for a mid-day nap. Their
occupants were fishermen, and far from asleep, were
watchfully looking down the shaft of the narits or " har-
poon" they poised in one hand to spear the first fish
passing beneath its prongs.

We now came abreast of the handsome mosque of
Hazrat Bal, the favourite resort of holiday folks, and
passing its village, and the long array of bathing-closets
half submerged in the waters of the lake, were presently
landed at our camp a little beyond. Here, on the 4th
August, we rejoined our comrades who preceded us from
Murree.

The evening of our arrival closed with an abrupt end
to the career of a favourite little pet of mine. He was
a handsome and vivacious little Scotch terrier born of
imported parents, and was the very simile of the bright-
eyed little one represented in Landseer's "Dignity and
Impudence." He came into my hands as a tiny pup only
a few weeks old, when I was here in 1869 — a gift
from my friend and former comrade in the Corps of
Guides, Captain C. W. Hawes — and spent his infant days
gambolling on the turfy spot to which he now returned
only to find a grave under its sod. He had always proved
a faithful and intelligent little companion, and a bold
champion for his master, and now sacrificed his life in
the rash defence of his domain. We were seated at
dinner under the spreading boughs of some splendid
plane trees on the bank overlooking the shore of the

70 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

lake — the dark shades of the approaching night but
dimly pierced by the light of the lamps on our table,
and concealing all beyond the range of their rays in a veil
of black obscurity — when some hungry pariahs prowling
in the vicinity, attracted by the savoury odours of our
viands, gathered round the lighted spot, and peering at us
from the edge of the darkness whence they had emerged
began stealthily to encroach on the privacy of our tem-
porary domain. Their appearance was immediately
announced by the challenge of my vigilant little friend
who, pursuing their retreat, plunged after them into the
darkness. An angry fight and a faint bark for assistance
soon hurried us with lights to the spot. The great
wolfish pariahs were driven from their worry, and my
poor dog lay moribund on the ground. His ribs had
been crushed in, and he was torn all over, and expired
in a few minutes without ever a groan. Poor little
Jingo ! His death was very sudden, and its sadness
heightened by the associations of the locality. I was
sorry to lose him, for he was an affectionate and brave
dog, and an universal favourite in the camp, where the
natives called him Jangu — " the warrior." His death
was fully avenged next day, and half-a-dozen savage,
mangy curs fell to our rifles.

Shortly after our arrival in camp, Wazir Earn Dhan
made his appearance, attended by a long retinue of ser-
vants bearing the various comestibles of the dali or
" entertainment" sent by the Maharaja. The Wazir set
them in array on the turf in front of Colonel Gordon's
tent, and welcoming us to Kashmir in the name of His
Highness, made the customary health inquiries, and
expressed a hope that the arrangements made for our
march were such as met approval.

The dali comprised a number of sheep and fowls, and
dozens of great pottery jars of rice, and flour, with sugar,

VISIT TO THE MAHARAJA. 71

tea, fruits, and spices, and butter and kitchen stuff of sorts
in liberal proportion. They were disposed of in the usual
manner — that is, for the most part shared amongst our
servants — and our visitor dismissed with compliments
and grateful acknowledgments to his master.

Next day, according to arrangement by the Eesident,
Mr Le Poer Wynne, we proceeded to visit the Maharaja.
At five o'clock in the afternoon his Prime Minister,
Diwan Kirpa Earn, arrived in our camp, and after a cere-
monial visit conducted our party to the palace in the
Slier Garhi Fort, whence a pinnace of the kind called
parinda, or " Flier," from its rapid progress, had been
sent for our conveyance. Maharaja Eanbir Sing met us
at the door of the terrace overlooking the river on
which he received us, and greeting each in turn in a
friendly manner conducted Colonel Gordon to the chair
on the right of his own, the rest of us finding seats on
either side. A brief conversation followed on general
topics, and then turned on the subject of our journey.
Our host warned us of the difficulties of the country on
the northern frontier of his territory, and said that,
though he had no personal knowledge of its character,
the reports of his officials described it as an inhospitable
desert waste on which the traveller, however well pro-
vided with creature comforts, was liable to suffer from
the extremity of cold and the difficulty of respiration.
He added, complimenting us on the enterprising charac-
ter of our nation, that we would doubtless overcome such
obstacles ; and so far as he was concerned, the country
he ruled being our own, and his interests identical with
ours, we had his best wishes for a prosperous journey and
safe return. In proof of which, he concluded, he had
issued orders for every assistance to be rendered to our
party in all parts of the country under his rule.

On rising to take leave His Highness conducted Colonel

72 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Gordon to the door, and there, as on arrival, shaking
hands all round, dismissed us.

Next morning (the 6th August) Captain Biddulph's
party, with Captain Trotter and Dr Stoliczka, marched
away in advance en route for Leh ; thence to meet us, by
way of the Chang-channmo route, at Shahidulla, which
had been fixed as the rendezvous prior to advancing to
Yarkand. And in the evening, at the same hour as
yesterday, Colonel Gordon, Captain Chapman, and I
proceeded to return the visit of Diwan Kirpa Earn,
under conduct of Pandit Hira Nand, who came up from
the Fort in a government pari n da to do the honours
of the ceremony. The Diwan received us in his official
residence, adjoining the palace, with every mark of atten-
tion, and expressed himself highly gratified at the honour
we had conferred on him. He displayed an earnestness
to please us, and do all in his power to make smooth the
difficulties of our route ; and assured us, that by the
Maharaja's orders, he had issued minute instructions to
all the frontier officials as to the supply of provisions,
with strict injunctions that they were to spare no efforts
to ensure our comfort and safety on the march through
their respective charges. On taking leave he expressed
his hope that we would find the arrangements made for
the furtherance of our journey such as would meet our
approval.

The experiences of the road so far certainly testified to
the sincerity of his words, whilst our future experiences, as
it will be my agreeable duty to record hereafter — more
fully than we could have expected, both on the march up
and down — proved the perfect faith and thorough good-
will of our Kashmir friends.

The day had been a thoroughly wet one, and the clouds
only began to break and clear away to the mountain tops

BANQUET IN THE RANBIR BAGH. 73

as we set out for our visit. The river was hardly affected
by this rainfall at the time of our return to camp, but
during the night it rose in flood and inundated the
Chinar Bagh to a depth of eight feet. This is a hand-
some plantation of very fine plane trees on the bank of
the Tsunt Kul or " Apple Tree Canal," which leads from
the river to the sluice gates of the Call lake, and from
its proximity to the city was at first thought of as the
most convenient site for our camp. Other considerations,
however, on the score of health and discipline, decided in
favour of the more distant and less humid spot, and we
very fortunately escaped the inconveniences of a midnight
stampede amidst the marsh and mire of that tempting
spot.

On the following evening we were entertained at a ban-
quet, as the guests of the Maharaja, in the Eanbir Bagh.
It is a palace, or hall of entertainment, which stands on a
high masonry plinth, and forms a square block with
open verandahs all round; and is covered with one of those
airy roofs which, in the manner peculiar to this country,
slope up from all sides to a central point, there to be
topped by another of miniature proportions. It has
been recently built in the Kashmir style of architecture,
and occupies a prominent isolated position on the river
bank above the city, and opposite the quarters allotted
for the residence of European visitors, and is furnished
in the Indo-European fashion. In front of it, and on
either side, is a fine turf promenade supported against
the river by a masonry embankment which is ascended
from the stream by a substantial flight of stone steps.
And in rear, beyond a high bank of turf, is a spacious
garden laid out, after our fashion, with fruit-trees, orna-
mental shrubs, and flowering plants.

On this occasion a company of infantry, and a military

74 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

band were drawn up on the embankment from the land-
ing-steps to the verandah in which the Maharaja received
his guests. Here, as throughout the building, the floor
was carpeted with a sheeting of snow-white calico, which
answered well to counteract the dull reflection from the
walls highly embellished with the minute patterns of
the Kashmir style of decoration. We found His High-
ness and his two youngest sons — pretty and intelligent
children — seated at the upper part of the hall with the
Eesident and some officers who were visitors in the
valley, and his court officers standing in attendance
behind him. So approaching to pay our respects, we
found seats on the chairs reserved for us on either side
to witness the ndch which was to beguile the half-hour
before dinner — the grace allowed the unpunctual ones to
join the feast.

A troupe of twelve or fourteen dancing girls — the cele-
brated beauties of Kashmir — attended by their torch-
bearers, now made their appearance at the top of the
verandah steps, and with one accord saluting the Maha-
raja, quietly seated themselves in a semicircle opposite
to us on the floor at the lower end of the hall. From
this they rose two and two in turn, and reciting and
singing and dancing, slowly worked their way up to
where our host was seated ; then saluting, they retired,
as gracefully as they had advanced, to make way for the
next pair, and so on. I will not attempt to describe this,
by us much abused, performance, for want of appropriate
words; because the terms " reciting and singing and
dancing," which, in default of better, I have used above,
do not convey to our ideas a true representation of what
they are meant to explain.

Whatever the faults of each, and however unsuited to
our tastes, these accomplishments are none the less

THE KASHMIR BAYADERE. 75

appreciated by those amongst whom they flourish, and
by whom they are exhibited for our entertainment.
Besides, apart from the divergence of taste in these
respects, the performance, judged on its own merits, is
not altogether unworthy of commendation ; particularly
if set in comparison with the spectacles presented so
often on our own stage where the ballet is in vogue.
With the " bayadere " of Kashmir there is no studied
indelicacy of dress, any more than there is abandon in
the graceful movements of her limbs. These (the grace-
ful movements) are only acquired by long practice and
careful training, and to be judged fairly must be viewed
with an unprejudiced eye. For the dance of the Kash-
mir bayadere as she sails over the floor with those
graceful evolutions of the arms and body which attract
the eye more than that almost imperceptible movement
of the feet — only recognised by the jingling of the ankle
bells— is quite a different sight from the fling one sees on
the stage, or the performances we go through in the ball-
room ; though each may be appropriate in its own sphere.

After two or three rounds had been gone through dinner
was announced, and the Maharaja rising conducted the
Eesident and Colonel Gordon by either hand to the
table, and then retired through a side-door to join
Mirza Fazlullah Khan, the Persian Consul General of
Bombay, who, happening to be on a tour in the valley,
was one of his guests ; whilst the rest of us, following
the first lead, ranged ourselves on either side of the
board, and in the absence of our host did free justice to
the good things provided.

The dinner was served entirely after our own fashion,
excepting only the absence of our host from the head
of his own table, in deference to an absurd prejudice the
natives of India obstinately adhere to. This unjustifiable

76 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

refusal to eat with us is the great stumbling-block in the
way of that social intercourse which we strive to culti-
vate with our native fellow-subjects, and will never
be removed until the native princes send their sons to be
educated in English colleges, where they may learn how
to associate with us on equal terms.

As it was, the Resident presided, and at the proper
time rose to propose the usual toasts — " The Queen "
and " The Viceroy." Each in turn was duly responded
to, and then Colonel Gordon proposed " The Maharaja,"
which was received in like manner, all standing. As
each toast was drunk, the band, which had been treating
us to a variety of music during the meal, struck up
"God save the Queen." On the conclusion of the last
repetition his Highness acknowledged the compliment
in set form through Diwan Kirpa Earn, and then the
company rejoined the party in the verandah, where the
ndch was continued. In the midst of its performance
was heard the squeak of a bagpipe, to the no small
astonishment of those who were not in the secret of his
coming ; and following it appeared our camp sergeant
and piper stepping it gaily up the hall to where we were
seated. He saluted the Maharaja, and then by his
request gave us a performance. His appearance was
splendid and, as in its handsome garb his well set-up
form paced solidly up and down the hall, we could not
but proudly admire all he represented.

His presence in such a scene was, nevertheless, totally
out of place, and even more absurd than our dining
without our host ; for it sadly discomfited the fair Kash-
miris, whose countenances, instead of curious glances of
admiration, depicted only the disgust with which the
intrusion filled their hearts. Even the Maharaja, with
all his determination to please, could not divest his

A REVIEW OF THE KASHMIR GARRISON. 77

features of the gloom our friend's Gaelic airs had cast
upon them, and signalised his pleasure at their cessation,
I trow, more likely than out of compliment to us, by
ordering a handsome shawl and a purse of gold to be
given to the performer.

On our return journey from this entertainment we
found the sluice gates of the Dall closed to prevent the
rising flood of waters entering ; otherwise the garden
plots before mentioned as covering the marshy tract be-
tween the river and the lake would have been destroyed
by the inundation. We consequently walked across the
embankment, and proceeded to camp in a boat which
had been thoughtfully provided for us on the other side.
It was nearly midnight when we reached camp, glad to
have done with the passage by the water way, and escape
its damp chills and heavy mephitic odours.

On the 10th we attended one of those military reviews
of the Kashmir troops which the Maharaja holds weekly
here, on the parade in rear of the Sher Garhi, when
residing in this summer capital. We met his Highness
as he issued from the gate of the fort, and, accompanying
his unostentatious cavalcade, rode down the line paraded
for inspection ; and then, turning off to the saluting point,
were provided with chairs on the platform from which
he viewed the evolutions of his army.

There were about four thousand infantry, two hundred
cavalry, and fifty or sixty wall pieces the size of camel
guns upon the ground. The men were equipped in uni-
form similar to that of the Indian army, though their
arms were decidedly inferior, and the men themselves
evidently not selected on the merits of physical efficiency.
They were, however, on the whole, a light-limbed, active
body of men, generally well set-up ; and they marched with
creditable regularity. Dogras and Sikhs, amongst whom

7 8 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

were interspersed some Pathans and Hindustanis, com-
posed the chief constituents of the force, and a battalion
of Baltis, in the extraordinary bonnets and jaunty petti-
coats (which display below the knee the neat folds of
their leg-bands) of their national garb, formed its most
interesting an,d curious feature.

After the manoeuvres the force marched past the plat-
form, in front of which their bands had been massed,
and took the routes to their different quarters. The
Maharaja evinced no keen interest in the spectacle, but,
referring to the services his troops had shared in during
the mutiny, pointed to them as but a contingent of the
Indian army which held these hills as part of the British
Empire for the Empress of India, and as at all times
ready for the service of the state.

It was originally intended that our camp should
halt here for eight or ten days to provide our men and
cattle with the warm clothing requisite on the march
across the passes, as well as to effect certain changes in our
camp-establishment, and alterations and improvements in
our mule gear and tent equipage, which the march from
Murree had rendered advisable. Our wants in these
respects had been promptly attended to by the Kashmir
officials who, for the sake of convenience and expedition
— for the city was five miles distant by road — had es-
tablished a temporary bazar under the trees in the
immediate vicinity of our camp, so that the tailoring,
cobbling, carpentry and smith- work, &c., required by our
party, were at once executed under direct supervision in
the booths and workshops that had sprung up around
us ; and accordingly on the 14th August I accompanied
Colonel Gordon on a farewell visit to the Maharaja to
thank him for his attentions to our party, and acknow-
ledge the punctuality and assiduity of his officials.

DEPARTURE FROM SRINAGGAR DELAYED. 79

On the eve of our departure, however, orders were
received from our chief at Simla directing the halt of
the camp here till his arrival on the 29th of the month.
The march was consequently postponed, and we devoted
the interval to perfecting the arrangements which had
already been made. But the time hung heavily, and the
fortnight proved a weary one amidst the fevers and the
musquitos of the spot — which, after all, was the best site
for our purpose the locality afforded. Not even the
interest of lessons in Turki, nor the diversion of shooting
grebe, coots, and water-pheasants amongst the reeds and
weeds of the lake, nor yet the ridiculous rumours
gossip brought us from the city, sufficed to enliven our
stay amidst such pests ; and finally, when our chief did
arrive, the order to march was hailed with joy by us all,
only too glad to change our forced inactivity in the
alluring shades of Nasim Bagh and its fever poison for
the excitements of the road and the pure air of the
mountains.

Prior to our departure from Murree I had been for-
tunate enough to secure as one of my personal servants
a native of Yarkand who, in 1868, had left his home to
make the pilgrimage to Mecca by way of India. His
history was a very remarkable one, and may be taken as
a type of that of many another who sets out from his
remote home in Central Asia to brave the vicissitudes
and dangers by land and sea of a journey of which he
has no conception other than that it is somehow to carry
him to that sacred spot which holds so mysterious a sway
over the Muslim mind.

Haji Casim — such was my hero's name — was the son
of a baker who kept a shop in one of the principal
thoroughfares of Yarkand city. He did a flourishing trade
under the rule of the Chinese till the Tungani rebellion,

8o KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

filling the streets with bloodshed, violence, and plunder,
necessitated his closing his business and secreting him-
self and family for very life in the store vaults and
cellars under his tenement. The father died during
these troubles, and on their subsidence the widow with
her children, emerging from their lurking, re-opened the
shop. And Casirn now worked the business with his
mother, and was a witness of all those eventful changes
which the city underwent till it was finally taken by
Atalik Ghazi.

On the restoration of order, and the revival of Islam
under the new rule, he took advantage of the favouring
opportunity, and with some four or five other members
of the family, leaving his mother to mind the shop,
joined a caravan of pilgrims who were setting out for
Kashmir, on the long journey they were bound, in com-
pany with a party despatched by the successful conqueror
with presents for the holy shrine at Mecca.

He and his companions set out on their unconsidered
wanderings with what few necessaries their humble state
allowed of their collecting laden on three ponies, which
also served to alleviate from time to time the fatigues of
their weary march. They had, besides, a joint sum of
money, hardly exceeding five pounds of our money, to
meet the expenses of a journey of as many thousand
miles.

By the time they reached Leh two of their three ponies
had succumbed to the hardships of the road, and their
carcases were left to desiccate and bleach with the thou-
sands of others which mark the traveller's track across
those terrible Tibat highlands. "Whilst the other proved
such an expense in a country where money was the
medium of exchange, and in a land where there was no
free pasture, that he was sold to avoid threatened bank-

STORY OF A PILGRIM. 81

ruptcy, and, instead thereof, to increase their slender
means. With their small stock of money thus nearly-
doubled, the party made their way to Srinaggar, and
thence through the Panjab to Bombay, where they em-
barked in a native pilgrim boat with a crowd of others
for one of the Arab ports.

Our Haji's account of his adventures and losses is too
long and confused, from his ignorance of the names of
many of the places on the route followed, for profitable
insertion here. Let it suffice for us to know that he did
get to Mecca, and piously performed the prescribed rites
there ; that he somehow found himself in Constantinople,
and somehow returned thence to Lahore, a veritable pil-
grim, a lonely, friendless stranger. His aunt had died
in one place, her daughter had disappeared at another,
his brother was lost somewhere else, and finally he and
his cousin, of about his own age, lost sight of each other
in the maze of some great Indian city, and neither knows
the other's fate, or did not up to July last year.

The troubles and perplexities of this doomed little
band appear to have commenced at Leh, and tracked
their steps in all their perilous wanderings. In one
place they were cheated of their money by knaves, in
another they were fed by the charity of the pious, and
more often they earned their living and worked their
way by odd jobs here and there.

From Lahore Haji Casim found his way to Leh as a
mule-driver in the train of a Panjabi merchant ; and,
arrived here, he was stopped short at the threshold of
his own home by a singular accident. He fell ill by ex-
posure on the march, and applied for relief at the
Charitable Dispensary established here by the British
Government in connection with the office of the Joint
Commissioner. The Hospital assistant, Khuda Bakhsh,

F

82 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

took an interest in the forlorn stranger, and after his
recovery provided for him as a domestic servant in his
own family.

Khuda Bakhsh subsequently abandoned the profession
for more profitable employment in the Commissariat
Department, and hearing of my want, obligingly placed
the Haji at my service with the view to his visiting his
home.

During our stay at Srinaggar, with the aid of my
books, I found him a very useful assistant in picking up
some acquaintance with the language of his country ;
whilst, in Kasghar, his services were freely in requisition
by most of us. His sudden rise to such prosperity and
importance led him into some extravagancies — not the
least of them marrying a wife and treating her friends
to a succession of feasts. But this may be passed as
excusable, since he considered it his duty to maintain
the dignity of his position as a servant in the Embassy,
and in no way detracts from his merits as an intelligent
and trustworthy guide. He accompanied me back to
Srinaggar, and there meeting Mr Shaw's party going up
to Kashghar, he resigned my service to return with his
camp to the bride he had left behind him.

CHAPTER III.

THE monotony of our last day's stay at Nasim Bagh
was agreeably interrupted on the 25th August by a visit
to the Maharaja's silk filature. It is an extensive
establishment in the vicinity of the Sher Garhi, and
gives employment to 400 men, though, as we were
informed, there is work enough for four times the
number. Babu Nilambar Dey Mukarji, who has the
management of the concern, accompanied us over the
establishment, and very obligingly explained the entire
process of sericulture.

The industry, it appears, has only been introduced
here during the last two or three years on the system in
vogue in Bengal, and from the results already achieved,
promises soon to be a productive source of wealth for
this country, so as in some measure to compensate for
the decline of the shawl trade in this ancient seat of its
prosperity.

The spinning-wheels we saw here were worked by
hand, but at the larger filature at Raghonathpur, on the
shore of the Dall, we were told they are worked by
water power. The silk appeared to be of remarkably
good quality, with a soft and fine fibre, and, from a cor-
respondence on the subject shown to us, some samples
which had been sent to London were pronounced by
Messrs Durant and Co. as worth from twenty-three to
twenty-four shillings the pound. The outturn of silk
last year is estimated at two lakhs of rupees, of which

84 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

ninety-five thousand are reckoned as profit. For the
same period twenty maunds or 1600 pounds of eggs
were stored for breeding. One ounce of eggs produces,
it is said, forty thousand worms. And these produce
120 ounces of silk. We saw the silk reeled in one part
of the establishment being woven into lengths in
another by the ordinary hand-loom, and were shown
some samples of a new fabric for the production of
which experiments were still in course of progress.
They were a combination of shawl-wool and silk, and
seemed durable and warm, but felt stiff and rough.

From the silk filature we went to the Maharaja's
Charitable Dispensary, which stands in a very good
position on the river bank, and is under the charge of
Dr Gopal Dass, formerly a sub-assistant surgeon on
the Indian Establishment, who kindly conducted us
over it.

The institution is managed entirely on European
principles, as in our own establishments of the same
kind, and is a great boon to the people on whom, in
a quiet, unobserved way, it confers unknown benefits.
Amongst the patients we saw a case of amputation of
the thigh, and another of the leg, both of which were
well advanced towards recovery. The records showed
that twenty-two other surgical operations of an impor-
tant nature, including three of lithotomy, had been
performed here during the current year, and all suc-
cessfully, except one of the lithotomy cases which
terminated fatally. The charity is worthy of every
support and encouragement, yet it is rarely visited by
the Maharaja or his court officials, though in justice it
must be recorded that it is amply provided with
European medicines and surgical instruments by him.

On the appointed day — the 29th August — a salute

THE MAHARAJA VISITS THE ENVOY. 85

fired at Srinaggar warned us of the arrival of our chief.
We accordingly donned our uniform, and hastened to
the Kesidency to welcome him, and pay our respects,
and were glad to find him none the worse for his rapid
ride from Murree.

On the next day Mr Forsyth, attended by his staff,
paid a ceremonial visit to the Maharaja, which his
Highness returned on the following morning. A spa-
cious tent and Shahmiydna, or " king in the centre "
awning, had been prepared for the reception on the
turfy bank overlooking the Dall ; and the slope from the
landing up to the tent had been laid with a strip of white
calico, on either side of which were ranged our guard of
" Guides " to do the honours. Captain Chapman went
down to the palace to escort his Highness who, on
arrival, was received at the landing by Colonel Gordon
and myself, and conducted to the tent, where he was
welcomed by the Envoy and Plenipotentiary, under a
salute from the guard, and a skirl on the pipes by
Sergeant Ehind.

The Maharaja— his eldest son, Miyan Partab Sing,
being prevented by indisposition — was accompanied by
his two younger sons, Earn Sing and Ammar Sing,
aged ten and eleven years respectively, and was attended
by Diwan Kirpa Earn, and eight or ten other principal
officers of his court. The ceremony passed off with the
usual formalities and courtesies, and our visitors on
departure went to spend the day in the cool retreat of
the Nishat Bagh, or " garden of delight," on the further
shore of the Dall.

On the following evening the Embassy was entertained
by the Maharaja at a banquet in the Eanbir Bagh.
The guests included the European community at the
time in the place, and the feast was graced by the

86 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

presence of ladies. The assembly was one for the usual
toasts and speeches proper to the occasion, and con-
cluded with a handsome acknowledgment by the Envoy
of the kindness and hospitality of our princely host.

With this parting proof of friendship terminated our
month's halt at Srinaggar, and on the following morning
— the 3rd September — our camp broke ground, and
marched to Gandarbal, at the entrance to the Sind
valley, where we camped under the shade of some mag-
nificent plane trees such as are only to be found in this
country. It is the first village we have come to in the
district of Lar (which extends from Manasbal to Sona
Marg, and is said to contain a hundred villages and
hamlets, few of which, however, contain as many as
thirty houses), and on this occasion presented a bustle
of activity such as it seldom witnesses.

Our own camp comprised 103 mules of the fixed
establishment, and nearly as many camp followers of
sorts. And we employed, besides, eighty-seven hired
ponies, and two or three score of coolies. We were all
closely packed on the side of the road, between the
village and the ridge at the foot of which it lies ; for the
land beyond spreads on to the Kashmir plain in a wide
stretch of rice swamp and reed marsh, which extends
away to the Manasbal lake.

Around us were grouped, in picturesque disorder, the
tents of our Kashmir attendants, and the piles of provi-
sions they had collected for our use ; whilst a stream
of coolies and baggage-ponies continued through the day
to file past, on their way to the stages ahead. The
complimentary speech of the Envoy on the preceding
evening had evidently flattered the vanity of our good
friends, and stimulated their exertions on our behalf;
and their service, here renewed, smoothed our way,

MARCH AWAY FROM SRINAGGAR. 87

stage by stage, till in due course we passed to the pro-
tection of our Kashghar allies.

At a mile or two beyond Gandarbal is the village of
Arr, on the bank of a small stream, of the same name,
which empties into the Dall at Telbal. It has some
paper-mills, worked by water-power, the sound of whose
pounders at work reached our camp. The fibre of the
wild hemp plant, which grows here in abundance, is
the material used, mixed up with old rags, &c. The
pulp is merely mashed and washed here, and then con-
veyed to the city to be made into paper. Another plant
which grows in abundance here, and much more plenti-
fully in the Kashmir valley, is the krishun, a species of
iris lily, the leaves of which are used for making ropes.

The evening closed here with the side-eddies of a
storm of thunder and lightning, which swept across
the plain from west to east, but caused us no further
commotion than a securing of pegs and trenching of tent
walls in anticipation of the threatened downpour.

From Gandarbal we marched to Kangan, twelve miles,
and camped in a grove of walnut and plane trees near a
silkworm nursery. The route at first winds amongst
cultivated fields and orchards to the homesteads of
Nunar, and further on leads across a high shelf of land
which drops precipitously to the bed of the Sind river.
We here crossed the stream on a ricketty bridge of long
fir poles which were stretched across between two piers
built up of loose boulders at the edges of the current, and
floored with cross bars of rough split logs. By another
similar bridge, beyond the homesteads of Palang, we
crossed a tributary stream coming down from the Har-
mukh mountain, and then following up the course of the
main river reached Kangan.

After the storm last night, the morning broke with a

88 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

clear, sunny sky ; and, as we passed up the valley, we
saw its beautiful scenery to the best advantage — wood-
land and mountain alike radiant in verdure refreshed by
recent showers. Vegetation is luxuriant everywhere,
and quite conceals from view the little farmsteads scat-
tered along the hill skirt.

The umbrageous walnut and mulberry clustered about
them hardly attract attention amongst the general
growth of apricot, plum, and apple trees which over-
spread the surface, and conceal from view the little plots
of rice and millets and vetches, or the narrow strips of
amaranth and buckwheat, which, more than the self-
growing fruit-trees, are the cultivator's care.

The two last constitute an important item of the
winter diet of the peasant here. The amaranth seed is
consumed in the form of porridge boiled with milk, and
is considered a warm and nourishing food. The other is
roasted and ground to flour, and then baked in thick cakes
mixed with walnut or apricot oil, which in this country
are in common use for domestic and culinary purposes.

Evening closed at Kangan with a storm of thunder
and lightning on the hills around ; and next morning, as
we followed our path to Gund, a few stray clouds over-
head showered their contents upon us, and then, with-
drawing to the hill tops, disclosed to our view the
glorious scene we were marching through.

As we proceeded up the winding course of its stream,
the hills on either side closed in upon the channel of the
Sind river in long slopes of pine and cedar forest which
terminate only at its edges. Bright, grassy glades
opened vistas through the mass of sombre forest, the ge-
nerally dull hue of which was agreeably lighted here and
there by foliage of varied form and colour ; whilst rifts in
the overtopping clouds now and_again favoured us with

THE VALLEY OF THE S1ND RIVER. 89

transient glimpses of rugged peaks projecting against the
sky, of stupendous banks of bare rock marking the limit
of vegetation, and of snow- clad mountain summits form-
ing the junction of radiating spurs.

The air was delightfully fresh and perfumed with the
honied scent of a multitude of wild flowers, amongst which
the familiar meadow-sweet claimed welcome recognition
from its abundance. Our men and cattle partook of
its enlivening benefits, and showed by their merry song
and buoyant steps that they had already recovered from
the fevers and lassitudes of our Srinaggar halt. On our
way we passed the village of Terewdn, with Hayan on
the opposite side of the river, and four miles on came to
Hciri, with Ganjawdn on the other bank. A little further
on we crossed the river by a bridge similar to those
between Gandarbal and Kangan, and, passing through a
wood, crossed some cultivated fields to Sumbal, and
beyond the village recrossed the river by a bridge, the
span of which is, I think, greater than that of any other
we saw on this route. At all events, the vibration was
greater and the undulation of the poles unsteadied one's
gait in an uncomfortable manner.

From Gandarbal up to the Nubra valley all these
bridges are exactly alike, and consist merely of two or
three long fir trunks stretched across between buttress
piers of loose boulders built upon either edge of the
torrent, and laid above with cross pieces of rough split log.
They are called Sanga, and seldom have any side railing.
They are only safe to cross on foot, owing to the unsteady
motion of the poles being apt to make a horse restive.
Laden cattle, too, should only cross one at a time.

Beyond the Sumbal bridge we passed through a strip
of terraced cultivation to Pra"o, and two or three miles
further on halted for breakfast a little way short of

90 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Gund, where our camp, going on, was pitched on a ledge
overlooking the river — distance fifteen miles. The route
traversed up to this point, and, indeed, up to Kezin,
eight miles further on, is a prosperous though not very
populous tract. The peasantry appeared to be comfort-
ably off, and their farmsteads well stocked with kine,
ponies, sheep, and goats. In most of the villages the
bee is hived, and at Pra"o we were presented with a fresh
honeycomb for our breakfast.

From Gund we marched to Shat Gari, fifteen miles.
For the first three miles, up to Eevil, the road is difficult,
and leads across a steep hill slope in parts of which it is
built up against the side of a vertical wall of rock.
Beyond Eevil — which is a small cluster of farmsteads
embowered amidst splendid walnut trees very pictu-
resquely grouped together at the entrance of the Gumbur
glen, winding up amongst wild hills to the northward —
it passes over a considerable stretch of cultivation which
slopes down to the river in a succession of terraces, and
conducts to the village of Kulan. Here it crosses the
river and traverses the flat reach on which stand the
homesteads of Gwipara and Rezin ; beyond these it
recrosses to Gaganger, where we breakfasted under the
shade of its walnut trees.

Onwards from this the road becomes difficult, and lies
for about four miles, with numerous ascents and descents
en route, along the foot of precipitous cliffs which wear
a singularly wild aspect. Kugged ridges top the hills
and shoot up in sharp peaks against the sky ; whilst the
thinning forests on the lower slopes barely hide the
nakedness of their rocks. In many parts the path was
obstructed by the debris of slate and sandstone which
had fallen from the slopes above, and several loads were
thrown in the passage of these obstructions. We were,

MO UNTAIN SCENER Y AT SON A MARG. 9 1

however, well supplied with coolies to meet such contin-
gencies, and no loss or delay occurred. On our return
journey this way, the following year, we found this road,
which is called Hang Sattu, had been repaired and made
easy. Beyond it we crossed the river, and camped on a
flowery meadow lying along its bank, under the shadow
of a forest- covered ridge which concealed from our view
much of the magnificent scenery of the locality.

At Shat Gari the valley branches off in different direc-
tions, and forms an amphitheatre in the hills. Its undu-
lating surface is covered with a profuse growth of
flowering plants, and its surroundings present some of
the finest scenery to be found in Kashmir — mountains
and glaciers, forest slopes and pasture meadows, with
sparkling torrents and gloomy defiles being all combined
in one landscape. Shat Gari, the village of eight or ten
houses near which we are camped, is said to signify
" The seven hills," from the number of peaks that enclose
its basin which is more commonly called Sona Marg, or
" The golden meadow," from the flowery slopes at its
further end, where is the village of that name.

The rise in this march is considerable. I made it 1848
feet by the difference in the boiling point of water, which
gave the elevation at Shat Gari as 8506 feet. The change
in climate and difference in temperature, too, were very
sensible ; the maxima and minima being 78° Fah. and 45°
Fah. respectively, against 83° Fah. and 53° Fah. on the
last day of our stay at Nasim Bagh.

This is a favourite summer resort of tourists in Kash-
mir, and the hills around contain the hunting-grounds of
the sportsman. The stag, or barasing, ranges their forests
and feeds on the grassy glades that break their thick
shades ; the ibex, or Jcel, disports himself on their inac-
cessible crags, and roams the pastures on their loftiest

92 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

slopes, where the wild goat, or mdrkhor, keeps him
company, and divides the dominion; and the brown
bear, or hdputs, lurks in the gullies and ravines ; whilst
the monal pheasant hides his bright plumage in the
favouring foliage of the woods he inhabits ; and the snow
pheasant mixes his less attractive colours with the similar
hues of the rocks he lives amongst. In winter this region
is deeply covered with snow, and then the few houses,
which here constitute the last signs of habitation in this
direction, are deserted by their tenants, excepting such
as are retained here by the governor for the purpose
of keeping open the communication with the country
beyond.

From Shat Gari we marched across Sona Marg and,
crossing the river above the village, followed up its
course to Baltal — " The foot of the pass " — where we
camped near some log huts which are used as a post
stage and shelter for travellers. Distance twelve miles.
The Sind river is here joined by a considerable tributary
which flows through a picturesque gorge that winds
down from the south-east, whilst the main stream coming
down from the north-east, and which appears the smaller
of the two, is lost to view in the dark, deep chasm of the
Zojibal a little way ahead. Vegetation here — which is the
limit of its luxuriance in this direction — is very profuse,
particularly in pasture and flowering plants. I collected
the seeds of several different kinds, which, with others
gathered at various stages on our route, I sent to Dr
Hooker at Kew, and Mr Anderson Henry at Edinburgh.

I remembered this was the spot indicated to me as the
natural home of the Mt or " costum," by the carriers we
met on the march to Srinaggar, but searched the vicinity
of the camp in vain for the plant. Nor could I find
amongst the crowd of coolies about us any one who even

PASS FROM KASHMIR TO TIB AT. 93

knew the name. They were for the most part strangers
to the locality, having been collected here from distant
parts of the district for the service of this special occa-
sion; and though they could not help me themselves,
one of them got me a native of the locality from the post
huts hard by, who brought me in some specimens from a
hill a few miles off.

Our next stage was to Matayan. Marching next day —
the 7th September — from Baltal, we crossed the Zojibal
pass, and shortly after passed from the territory of Kash-
mir proper to that of Tibat. We left behind us a beau-
tiful country, luxuriant in vegetation ever fresh in the
moist atmosphere of its climate, and entered a region
in the dry air of which no tree and no herb flourished
away from the banks of its rivers and water-courses. We
lost the varied and picturesque scenery of limestones and
sandstones, with their always pleasing landscapes of wood-
land and pasture, and found instead the dreary wastes
and wilds of schists and shales, of granites and gneiss
rocks, with their interminable monotony of desolation,
only varied by repetition of inhospitable glacier. And
we parted from a well-favoured people who present, in
their comely features and robust frames, one of the purest
forms of that diversified family of the Caucasian race — the
Aryan ; and we met another who as distinctly bear all the
typical characters of that great branch of the Mongol
stock — the Tatar. And with the change we passed from
one set of dialects to another — from Aryan to Turanian ;
and from professors of one religion to those of another —
from the Musalman to the Budhist. And, finally, on
passing from one region to the other we came upon new
manners and dresses, different plants and different ani-
mals. We found polyandry in place of polygamy, and
the bonnet in place of the turban. We found a pasture

94 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

of peculiar herbs in place of the common grasses. And
we found the grunting ox and hybrids in place of the
familiar bullock and kine. The limit between these
two regions of such opposite characters is the water-
shed of the Sind and Dras rivers, which trickle away
from it west and east respectively. It is an almost im-
perceptible saddle-shaped elevation running across the
narrow col about five miles beyond the pass ; and, though
we found only a few scattered wreaths lying under the
shade of its sides, it is for eight months of the year buried
deeply under snow.

The pass itself, however, is the great object of atten-
tion here, as it forms the most serious obstacle in the way
of uninterrupted communication with the regions to the
north. It is called Zoji-la by the Tibetans, and Zoji-bdl
by the Kashmiris. The terminal syllable, in the language
of each respectively, signifies " hill pass," and the proper
name is a corruption of Shivaji or Sheoji, one of the three
great Hindu deities.

The pass is closed to traffic during nearly half the year,
and is entirely impassable except to post couriers, and
then at peril, during two months. The Envoy of
AtalikGhazi crossed this pass last December with extreme
difficulty, and lost, so I was informed here, eleven of
the coolies of his convoy, who perished in a snow-drift.
It is crossed by two roads ; one of these follows up the
bed of the river, and passes over the blocks of ice and
snow-drift which block the narrow gorge or gap through
which it flows ; and the other winds up the steep slope
of the hill rising above this gap to the north. The first
is seldom used owing to its dangers, and is only practic-
able to footmen ; the other is a very fair road, and is kept
in repair by the Kashmir authorities.

We followed the latter route, and at the summit of the

CROSSING OF THE ZOJILA PASS. 95

pass found the elevation by the boiling point of water to
be about 11,400 feet above the sea, and 2118 feet above
Baltal. The path is very steep and zigzag up the face of
a high cliff which forms one side of the gorge. Our long
file of mules got over very well, and without further loss
than that of two casks of mess liquor, which went over
the side, and were only picked up in the bed of the river
below, where, through their stoved-in sides, the limpid
waters of the Sind river quickly replaced the Scotch whisky
and French brandy which were to have served us through
the winter. The descent on the other side is easy, and
leads down to the river channel above where it narrows
and drops suddenly in the gorge. We crossed to the
opposite bank over a mass of hard impacted snow which
sloped steeply to the gorge.

This pass is of historical interest as being the spot at
which the Yarkand troops of Sultan Said, in 1531 A.D.,
defeated its defenders. The circumstance is recorded by
the principal actor in the enterprise — Mirza Muhammad
Hydar — in his history of the Mughal Khans of Kashghar.
He wrote his book in the " city of Kashmir," or Srinag-
gar, in 1544 A.D., and entitled it Tarikhi Eashidi or
" The Annals of Eashid," who was the reigning Khan of
Kashghar at that time. During our stay in the country
I obtained a good copy of this book, and from its pages
have derived several interesting historical memorials
connected with different parts of the route we traversed.
In his account of this campaign, which was undertaken
as a ghaza or " crescentade" against the infidels of Tibat,
Sultan Said set out from Yarkand in the last month of
the Muhammadan year 938, corresponding with April
or May of our year 1531, with an army of 5000 men,
and crossing the Caracoram, came upon his enemies' first
settlements in the Nubra valley. His force marched in

96 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

two divisions, one of which — under the joint command of
his son Iskandar, and his minister Mirza Hydar — pro-
ceeded some days in advance, whilst the other under
command of Said himself followed in rear.

Sultan Said suffered so severely from difficulty of
breathing in the passage of the highlands — on which he
subsequently died — that his officers, alarmed for his
safety, hurried him off to the lower valleys, and des-
patched messengers to warn Mirza Hydar of the king's
distress. The first division had advanced in their vic-
torious career as far as Maryol or Ladakh when they
were overtaken by this intelligence ; and Mirza Hydar,
immediately retracing his steps, joined his master in
Nubra, where he found that the sufferer had quite
recovered from his troubles on passing out of the sphere
of the causes which produced them.

After this the invaders spent four or five months in
active guerilla with the inhabitants, and overran their
thinly peopled valleys, plundering, slaughtering, captivat-
ing, and converting till they had devastated the whole
country. Winter was now approaching, and it was dis-
covered that the country was incapable of supporting
their numbers until the return of spring should enable
them to retrace their steps across the passes.

It was consequently decided to divide their force, and
seek winter quarters elsewhere. Sultan Said with one
thousand men penetrated into the Balti country, which is
described as situated between Badakhshan and Bolor, and
was received as a guest by its chief, one Bahram Toe. He
and his people, it would seem, were Musalmans — proba-
bly of the heretic Shia sect ; for the Yarkandis — of the
orthodox Sunni creed — treated them in a very un-
brotherly fashion, and abused their host's hospitality
by turning his subjects out of their houses, killing

WINTER QUARTERS IN KASHMIR. 97

the men, enslaving the women and appropriating their
chattels.

Mirza Hydar, with the youthful Iskandar and the
other four thousand of the force, minus a small detach-
ment left in Nubra, set out to make their way into
Kashmir. They arrived at the Zojibal pass about
November or December and found it deep in snow, and
defended by four hundred of the enemy — apparently
people of Dras. These, however, were soon put to flight
by the overwhelming number of their assailants, and the
Yarkandis, hurrying on, reached Srinaggar on the second
evening, camping only one night midway ;. thus fighting
a battle, and marching at least seventy miles within the
space of forty-eight hours.

At Srinaggar they were hospitably received by the
king, one Muhammad Shah, who enlivened the monotony
of the winter months by celebrating a marriage between
his daughter and the Yarkand prince.

In the ensuing spring the crescentaders issued from
their respective retreats. The rigours of the winter in
Balti, it would seem, somewhat chilled the fervour of
Sultan Said's religious zeal, for he set out forthwith to re-
turn to his capital. On reaching the elevated plateaux
he was again seized with his former ailment, and, though
hurried on by double stages towards the place where the
difficulty of breathing or dam is known to cease, he ex-
pired midway, only a few miles from the Caracoram pass,
just twelve months after he had set out on this ill-fated
expedition.

On his departure from Nubra Said had ordered Mirza
Hydar to prosecute the gliaza, and carry the victorious
banner of Islam into the very metropolis of the infidels
— to Aorsang, or Ouchang, or Hlassa itself — consequently
the Kashmir division set out from Maryol on the enter-

G

98 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

prise without delay, as the goal of their ambition was dis-
tant a journey of two months. The force endured incredible
sufferings and losses from cold, privation, and effects of
altitude, and after wandering about for two months
were compelled to retreat on Maryol before they had ac-
complished half the distance to their destination. They
now learned of the death of Said, of the revolution in
Kashghar, and the accession to the throne of his eldest
son, Sultan Eashid, by the murder of Mirza Hydar 's
uncle, Sayyid Muhammad Khan — who had seized on the
government in favour of Iskandar — and of the recall of
Iskandar with the army, and of the proscription of Mirza
Hydar. The winter was now setting in, and the joint
commanders decided on sharing what fortune provided
together. By deaths and desertions their force had been
reduced to five hundred men. With these they seized the
fort of Kalasiya or Gala Shiya, and in it held out till
spring, subsisting on the ten thousand sheep they had
captured on their way down. With the opening of the
roads they invaded Bang Shigar, and after ravaging the
country for two months finally returned to Maryol, where
the remnant of the force dispersed to return as best they
could to Yarkand. On the approach of the third winter
Mirza Hydar and Iskandar, with their following reduced
to fifty men, set out together to seek a safer retreat.
By the time they reached the Caracoram their men
were reduced to twenty-seven. Of these, four returned
with Iskandar to Yarkand, and the rest followed
Mirza Hydar on his venturesome journey by an un-
known track through Bashgam and Pamir to Badakhshan.
And thus ended the Yarkand invasion of Tibat in
1531 — the first and last from that direction of which we
have any record.
To resume the narrative of our march, whence we

CHANGE OF CLIMATE AND SCENE. 99

digressed for this historical memorandum. After cross-
ing the Zoji La to the opposite bank of the river-bed the
path follows up its course to the water-shed, the eleva-
tion of which is, by hypsometric observation, 11,300
feet. Beyond it the route passes down the " col," along
the gradually growing stream of the Dras river, and over
a moorland covered with turf and peat beds down to a
tributary from a glacier close on the right. We here
first came upon the marmots for which this locality is
famous. Further on the road, crossing other tributaries,
conducts to Matdyan. Distance 14 miles. There are no
trees here, but there is a good deal of cultivation, mostly
barley, on the long strip of alluvium which here forms the
valley. The change in climate and scene is sudden and
complete. The birch and willow, with some juniper, soon
cease beyond the water-shed, and then the hills assume
that dreary, bare, treeless aspect which is their character
throughout the rest of our journey. The air too is sen-
sibly drier and lighter, whilst the change in phy-
siognomy, dress, and language are no less strange. Dras,
13 miles, was our next stage. It is a collection of half-
a-dozen hamlets dispersed over the inequalities of a
spacious basin in these close set hills, and forms the
capital of the Dras district which extends from Zojila to
Channagund. In the centre of the basin is a small
square fort with a garrison of fifty men, and adjoining
it is the tahsil or " collectorate " of the governor of the
district. It overlooks a garden surrounded by poplar
and willow plantations, whose fresh foliage met the eye
agreeably in the midst of the general poverty of the
scene, and afforded us a welcome shelter from the sun's
rays which here possess an unexpected power, exem-
plified amongst our party by several cases of ephemeral
fever and headache. The elevation of Dras is about

TOO KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

10,150 feet, and snow lies on the ground for two to three
months in winter, to the depth of a foot or more. Some-
times it lies for weeks together to a depth of three or four
feet, and completely closes the route through this valley.
Further on its usual depth diminishes to a few inches at
Kargil. Our route led down the narrow winding valley
of the Dras river, to whose banks the hills slope direct in
a succession of bare uninviting rock, and presented no
objects of interest except, perhaps, the prangos — called
by the natives prangoz — which we here first met, and
the river-bed itself which — where we crossed it by
bridge — half a mile below the village of Pandras, forms
a narrow, furrowed, and scooped channel over an outcrop-
ping stratum of green serpentine. It extends for some
miles till the river enters the Dras basin. Here we
crossed it again to reach our camp ground by one of
those log bridges common to this country, and which,
for us, had a melancholy interest as the unsteady sup-
port from which Mr Cowie — an English gentleman tra-
velling in these parts some six or eight years ago — fell into
the river whilst crossing on horseback, and was drowned.
On the march we met some small parties of coolies
carrying tea on its way to Srinnagar. The loads were
packed in oblong bundles sewed up in sheepskins, and
were carried on the back in a sort of .wooden saddle
worn like a knapsack. The porter carried in his hand a
T-shaped stick, on which now and again he supported his
burthen to take rest and recover breath. The tea came
from Hlassa, and had been conveyed stage by stage on
the backs of different sets of coolies, each set only carry-
ing across the limit of their own district. At Dras most
of the cattle and coolies provided for our camp by the
Kashmir authorities were changed. The ponies were
hardy, sure-footed, and active little animals, and in our

THE BHOT COOLY. \ • iJr

subsequent experience proved excellent baggagers ; whilst,
as for the Tatar coolies, in patient endurance, cheerful
service, and few wants, they bear away the palm from all
of their class. But their merits are best appreciated at a
respectable distance, for they are the least washed and
most scented gentry anywhere to be met with.

The natives of this district are Skid Musalmans pro-
fessedly, but in physiognomy resemble the Tatars we
come to further on, and with whom they consort freely.
Their dress is a compromise between that of the Kash-
miri and the Bhot, and but for the turban some of them
wear they are not to be distinguished by the stranger
from the Bhot, to whose speech their own assimilates.
Their complexion, however, is generally fairer than that
of the Bhot, and some of them show very distinct traces
of intermixture with Kashmir blood. They seem,
indeed, to be merely Muhammadanised Tatars forming
the connecting link between the divergent Aryan and
Turanian types. Few of them understand any but their
own language, and they even have different names for
their several villages and camping stages to those used
for them by the Kashmiris. Thus they call Dras — Him-
baps ; Matayan — Ambuti; Pandras — Pran, &c. And the
coolies in our camp here amongst themselves spoke
different dialects, according to the districts they came
from, though they all seemed to understand each other
pretty well. I commenced making a vocabulary, but
found the diversity at each stage so great that I aban-
doned the task as hopeless. During our halt at Leh,
however, I collected a few hundred words, and com-
paring them with those jotted down on the march found
three distinct dialects of the same language were in use
on the line of our route. The language of these Tatars —
as are the people themselves — is called Bhot by the Kash-

lee KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

miris. It is entirely different from the Kashmiri and
its cognate dialects of Dardistan and Kafiristan, or of
Badakhshan and Wakhan, and bears no resemblance to
the Turki and Calmaghi spoken in Kashghar.

From Dras we marched to Thasgam — sixteen miles —
and on quitting camp passed three stone pillars standing
on the roadside. They were four or five feet high, and
were sculptured with representations of Hindu gods.
How they came here, or anything of their history, no-
body could tell us. Our route followed the river course
down a narrow winding valley with many hamlets and
considerable cultivation on the small flats which occupied
the turns of the stream from side to side. We observed
many stacks of lucerne — here called buksuk, and at Leh
chhumpo — and prangos piled in the roadside fields as
winter fodder for the cattle of this country — the hybrid
between the yak (bos cjrunniens,) and the domestic cow,
which is called zho and zhdmo for the male and female
respectively. There are several cross-breeds between the
hybrid and the parent stocks, but they are not common
nor so valued as the simple hybrid. The zho is very
enduring and docile, and is preferred in the plough and
under the load to the more hardy but restive yak; whilst
the zhdmo is said to give a more abundant and steady
supply of milk than the common cow, and that on a
limited and not very varied diet.

Our next march was a long and fatiguing one of
twenty-two miles to Kargil, where we halted the 12th
September. For the first two hours the route leads down
the river course, which is here very narrow and rock-
bound, and then, after crossing some rough ground, rises
to a small flat on which stands the solitary police station
of Kharbo. At a mile or two out of camp it crosses the
river by a log bridge thrown across to an approaching

ABANDONED GOLD DIGGINGS. 103

cliff. The passage round the rock to regain the road
beyond is very narrow, and dangerous from its position
on the brink of a precipice, at the foot of which surges
the angry torrent of the river.

We found here, as at the many similar passages we
subsequently crossed on our journey through this terri-
tory, a number of coolies stationed to assist our baggage
train, and all were passed over without accident.

Beyond the police station we came to the ruined walls
of some huts, which my guide told me marked the site of
a hamlet formerly occupied by some gold-diggers who
worked in the steep slope of the hill forming the opposite
side of the river channel. They had run a gallery some-
way into the hill, and used to wash the auriferous soil in
the river with profit till, one day the loose earth sub-
siding buried a number of their men, and the accident
being looked on as an interposition of Providence, the
enterprise was abandoned, and the colony dispersed.

From this we descended and ascended a succession of
spurs abutting on the river, which on the opposite side
receives the clear blue waters of the Shingo as a tribu-
tary to its own turbid stream, and rising up to the high
bank of granite boulders on which Channagund — or, as
the Tatars call it, Piliskimbo — stands, alighted for break-
fast while the baggage filed past.

Eesuming our route we came, at two or three miles,
to the junction of the Thangskam river with that of
Dras, and, mounting over a rough promontory of gneiss,
followed up its course, leaving the Dras river away to
our left, and after three miles of rough road came to
Kargil. The opposite bank from the Dras river upwards
is lined with villages which top the thin strips of fields
and orchards built up in terraces from the river's brink,
and extend all the way up to Powen opposite Kargil.

104 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Between Channagund and Kargil there is neither cul-
tivation nor habitation on the route we followed. The
road is very rough and broken, and when we passed was
crossed by the debris of two mud avalanches which had
burst out from the gullies above after unusual rain some
two months ago. One of them where it fell into the
river was about 250 yards across, and in its descent — on
the authority of my guide, a native of Kargil — swept
away forty head of cattle and the three shepherds
tending them.

Kargil is a very picturesque spot at the junction of
the Sum and Paskyum or Wakha rivers, whose united
streams form the Thangskam. It is a considerable vil-
lage spread over the well wooded slopes which overlook
the noisy waters-meet below, and the flourishing culti-
vation of Powen on the opposite shore.

It is the capital of the district of the same name, which
extends from the junction of the Thangskam with the
Dras river to the Photola pass, and has a fort and collec-
torate. The latter is situated at the top of the village,
and comprises some neat and commodious buildings, the
shady terraces in front of which accommodated our camp.

The fort commands the road at the junction of the
rivers, and is situated on an isolated boulder bed in the
stream of the Surii river which rushes past on each side
with ceaseless din. It communicates with the shore by
most rickety bridges, supported in spans upon unstable-
looking piles of boulder and brushwood.

Here we saw a grand collection of the people of the
district, who had been assembled for the service of the
camp, and found a strange mixture of Budhist and Musal-
man together, and apparently quite indifferent to the pre-
judices of creed which reign so supreme in the country
we had left behind. Indeed, the country so far as we

POLO AT KARGIL. 105

have come on this side of Kashmir shows no monuments
betokening the predominance or even the cultivation of
either one religion or the other, and neither masjidsmd zia-
rat, norgonpa and chhorten meet the eye to tell of Musal-
man or Budhist devotee. But in the crowd of seven or
eight hundred men gathered about our camp the mixture
of the two was very evident, and indicated the existence
here of both creeds as on a neutral ground. The people
are all alike called Bhot, though many amongst them are
Musalmans of the despised heretic or SMd sect ; and they
all present a very marked physiognomy of the Tatar
type. I saw many faces which elsewhere would have
been pronounced as Chinese.

In the afternoon of our halt here the people of the
place got up a game of polo for our amusement, and more
for their own. It is the national sport of this country,
and every village has its level strip of polo ground care-
fully kept for the practice of this exercise. The display,
however, we witnessed in the native home of the game
was a poor affair compared with what one sees in the
countries of its adoption. The keen zest and enjoyment
of both horse and rider, however, made amends for the
want of speed and dexterity which one sees exhibited
amongst ourselves, and the clumsy horsemanship was
covered by the merry good-nature and docility of
the rider and his little steed.

On the conclusion of the game some of the men exhi-
bited their equitation by picking a rupee off the ground
whilst riding past without quitting the saddle. It was
no great feat from the back of a pony no bigger than an
English donkey, and whose pace was curbed to that of
the proverbially obstinate creature to whose height I have
compared his. The sport afforded a deal of merriment,
however, amongst the crowd of spectators, owing to the

io6 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

laughable efforts made by some, and the awkward tumbles
of others in their eager efforts to clutch the prize ; and
was followed by a general scramble for handsful of
coppers thrown amongst the crowd, a struggle which
called forth a boisterous activity, wonderful to say, un-
marred by a single jar of ill-temper.

Indeed, as our further acquaintance with them proved,
these people possess a simplicity and geniality of disposi-
tion seldom to be met with, and are, according to their
standard, a thriving and contented community. The
crowd of them assembled here from all parts of the dis-
trict were warmly clad and well nourished, and appeared
generally comfortably off for men in their position.

It was here we first met the Tatar costume with which
our subsequent journey made us more familiar. Most of
the men wore the Bhot bonnet, or tipi, and carried a sheep
or goatskin slung across the back. The bonnet is a mere
bag of some strong woollen or goat's hair texture, and
hangs jauntily on one side of the head which fills its
opening, with the queue coiled in its interior or hang-
ing down the back. For the Bhot wears his hair in the
old style plaited into a tail, the length of which he is not
too proud to increase by the artificial aid of braided wool.
He is fond of ornament too, and decorates his bonnet
with a bunch of flowers plucked from the weeds growing
amongst his crops, or with the bright marigold which he
patronises in the shelter of his homestead. He wears
rings of gold or silver wire, strung with beads of red
coral and green turquoise, in his ears, and carries a big boss
of amber or agate suspended as a necklet charm on his
breast. The mantle of sheep or goatskin, called hyugor,
is worn slung across the back by a cord which crosses
the chest obliquely over one shoulder. It is cured with
the hair or wool on, and is used as a protection for the loins

DXESS OF THE BHOT PEASANT. 107

against the cold winds of the country. The people of
Kafiristan which, from what I have heard of that country,
is a somewhat similar mountain region to this, wear a
mantle of the same kind which, from its usual colour, is
called siydh post, or " black skin," by their brethren con-
verted to Islam ; and they are by them, consequently,
distinguished from other pagan tribes by the appellation
siydh post Kafir, or "pagans of the black skin." This
term has been strangely misunderstood and rendered as
siydh posh, or " clothed in black," a term which is far more
appropriately applicable to the indigo-dyed dress of the
Afghans themselves, or to us, or any other people who
wear clothes of a more or less dark colour, than to the
mountaineer of Kafiristan, whose usual dress is a woollen
home-made stuff of the natural hue, arid not the gro-
tesque costume I have sesn represented in a photograph
of a reputed Kafir in his national dress.

The rest of the dress of the Bhot peasant is very sim-
ple. A loose shirt of coarse cotton is covered by a long
frock of thick and strong woollen material. They are
bound round the waist by a leather belt, over which pass
the folds of a long scarf whose ends hang over the loose
trowsers ; and these, like the scarf, are of the same texture
as the frock. Coarse woollen socks cover the feet, wrhich
are farther encased in clumsy shoes of felt and leather
patch- work, or in boots of sheepskin worn with the wool
inside ; whilst the legs are protected by the folds of a long
woollen bandage, ornamented with an edging of varied
colours. From his belt hang the several indispensable
items of his travelling equipment, or indeed of his mo-
mentary requirements of ordinary life. His single-bladed
knife, carried in a leather sheath, hangs on one side with
a flint case which seems all brass binding; and a pouch-bag
for tea and tobacco, and odds and ends, with his bright

xo8 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

iron pipe, hangs on the other. Whilst in the capacious
interior of his fob are stowed away his bag of parched
barley-meal, or as often a lump of its dough half-stewed
by the heat of his body, and the wooden bowl from which
he eats it. Suspended obliquely across his back is what
looks like a quiver, but our peaceable Bhot carries neither
bow nor arrow, nor other weapon of war, and his suspi-
cious looking cylinder of wood, fluted and chased with
patterns of simple design, is only his tea-churn.

From Kargil the road crosses the river in front of the
fort by three or four log bridges which are connected by
a line of embankment, and rising out of the hollow for
four or five miles leads across a high undulating tract of
gravel which occupies the angle between the two rivers,
and then descends into the Paskyum valley.

The successive reaches on either shore as the river
winds down the valley are occupied by flourishing little
hamlets ; these are surrounded by their corn fields and
plantations of willow and poplar, and present a pleasing
picture of prosperity amidst the bare rocks around.

Beyond them the valley contracts suddenly at a gorge
(on the cliffs to the right of which the remains of stone
parapets surmounted by the ruins of a fort attract
notice, as evidences of some conqueror's destructive
work), through which the road passes over some very
rough ground. The path is very narrow and overlooks
the river, as it scoops its way through a narrow passage
in the serpentine rocks, up to Lotsum, a village of thirty
or forty houses.

We alighted here for breakfast, and then resuming our
route followed up the river course, crossing its stream
six or seven times by bridges, through a contracted, tor-
tuous, and wild defile of bare rocks of serpentine, con-
glomerate, chlorite and schistose shales which close in

B UDHIST RELIGIO US B UILDINGS. 109

upon the water channel in a confused succession and
no order. The path had been repaired and cleared of
stones, &c. for our journey, but in parts was very-narrow
and difficult. We found a number of coolies posted all
along the route at the difficult spots — where the path had
been built up across clefts in the shelving rocks, or where
it wound round a projecting bluff, or lay across a bridge
—to aid our cattle in case of accident.

At about eight miles from Lotsum the defile widens
into a more open valley in which stands the village of
Shargol. We camped near it on a turfy reach in a bend
of the river. Distance, eighteen miles from Kargil.

Here we came upon the first monument of the Bud hist
faith we had yet met in our march, and from this onwards
until we passed on to the uninhabited wastes of the Tibat
highlands, we saw no trace of any other creed. It was
a mane pJidne built on the bank overlooking our camp,
and was nothing but a broad wall of loose-set stones ; its
measurements were ninety-three paces long, eight paces
wide, and four feet high. On the north side of the wall, and
exactly midway, was a square slab of stone set upright
in a covered recess, and carved in very low relief with
figures of Budh and his priests. On each side of it was
a slab similarly set, and covered with writing chiselled
on its surface. The broad top of the wall in all its sur-
face was thickly strewed with a multitude of undressed
stones, flat boulders, and slabs of slate, each of which was
carefully inscribed with an unvarying formula of letters
lightly chiselled on the surface. The writing was read
to us by a Budhist priest as dm mane padme horn, and
was said to be the Budhist' form of invoking the Deity.

We subsequently saw several others of these mdne
phdne, and one at Leh nearly half a mile long. The
inscribed stones set on the top are deposited by the laity—

no KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

for whom the priest or lamma does the writing — to pro-
pitiate the Deity for the souls of defunct relatives, for
protection against evil, for favour in some enterprise, or
for the attainment of some desire or other — of which in
their variety the Bhot mind is as susceptible as that of
more tutored peoples. The mane is held in reverence by
the people, and in passing is always kept on the right
hand.

Our next march to Kharbo was fourteen miles. The
first part of the route was up a well cultivated valley, the
fields of which, sloping down to the river in wide terrace
slopes,were stacked with the new-cut corn, or waving in
yellow crops of wheat and barley ready for the sickle.

At the entrance to the valley we passed under the
Gonpa or "monastery" of Mulbe, one of those extraor-
dinary cliff-perched habitations which in this country
form so characteristic a feature in the landscape, and
further on stopped to examine an isolated rock, standing
by the roadside mid- valley, which caught the eye at a
distance by the bright drapery fluttering in the breeze
from its summit.

On the north face of the rock is carved the gigantic
figure called Chamba, which Dr Henderson has photo-
graphed ; and at its base stands a little hut in which are
kept the paraphernalia for his periodical service. On its
summit are fixed two poles, each of which is topped by a
bell-shaped mitre or copper cap ; beneath the cap hangs
a white calico petticoat of three flounces, trimmed with
a deep border of red cloth. This figure, according to
Cunningham, only dates from about 1620 A.D., when
Budhism was restored in the country after its suppression
in the beginning of the century by the Muhammadan
ruler of Iskardo. There is a similar figure, also called
Chamba, on an isolated rock near the village of Diggar,

DESERTED VILLAGE. in

which we saw on our return journey ; but the poles with
the mitre and gown were absent. In both the figures
are perfect, and are said to have been concealed from the
Muhammadan invaders from Kashmir and Iskardo by
building up the face of the rock with a wall of stone and
plaster of mud, fronted by a hut as if the residence of a
recluse. In both localities the remains of this device
are still traceable on the face of the rock.

Beyond the Chamba figure, continuing up the valley
through a succession of corn fields and hamlets with
their outlying chhorten, we turned away from the W&kha
river, and proceeding up a dry gully winding amongst
bare schistose slopes, topped by banks of conglomerate
and ridges of stratified limestone, crossed the Namika
pass, about 11,900 feet high by aneroid indication, and
descended by a long slope to the valley of the Shitang
river, which flows north towards Iskardo.

We here turned to the right, and following up the
course of the river in a south-east direction passed along
a fertile tract similar to that we had left on the other
side of the pass, and camped at Kharbo. Here the ele-
vation by hypsometric observation is about 11,350 feet.
This is an apparently recently built village at the base
of a precipitous cliff on the very summit and topmost
ledges of which are the ruins of a former village. Even
the chhorten here appear quite new, and the coating of
glistening mica clay with which they are whitewashed
wears all the freshness of recent application. The envoy
told me that, when he passed this way three years ago,
the upper village was inhabited, and we were informed
by villagers that it was deserted two years ago, owing
to a heavy fall of snow breaking in the roofs.

Our march on this stage was a most interesting one to
me from the more declared character of the living Bud-

ii2 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

hism amongst which we found ourselves—a creed and
polity I had heretofore only been acquainted with
through its relics so plentiful amidst the ruins of Yusuf-
zai. The village of Takcha, which drew attention across
the valley as we approached camp, piled up as it is
Budhist fashion on precipitous projections of an isolated
cliff detached from the ridge behind it, forcibly re-
minded me of many a similarly situated town the ruins
of which still top the bare crags and uneven summits of
the treeless ridges that indent the Yusufzai plain.

Qur further progress through this country enabled me
to compare the living form of the faith here with its
extinct remains there, and my imagination peopled
afresh with their ancient tenants the ruined cities of
Takhti Bahi, and Eani Gatt, of Sawul Dher, and Sahri
Bahlol, and many others. But how different the picture
of the past from the reality of the present, I shall have
to tell farther on.

CHAPTER IV.

FBOM Kharbo we marched to Lammayuru, fourteen
miles. The road leads up the defile over a succession of
knolls of conglomerate rock, and at about the fifth mile
crosses the river by a spar bridge to the little village of
Hanadku. Beyond this the river comes down from the
Kanji valley through a deep and dark cleft in the ver-
tical cliffs of the slaty mountains to the right of the
road, and where it debouches on the Kharbo valley is
joined by a thready rivulet which drains the long slopes
of the Photo La range ahead.

We followed up the main channel of this latter stream,
and by an easy, gradual ascent rose to the crest of the
Photo La pass, where is a conspicuous chhorten. I
alighted here to take the elevation by the boiling point
of water, and found it about 13,670 feet. The view
from this spot is extensive, and singularly monotonous in
the repetition of its dreary aspect. In whichever direc-
tion the eye is turned it is met by the same unvaried
prospect of long slopes of crumbling schist, topped by
serrated peaks of the vertical strata of slate — the more
prominent in their dark shades against the snow lodged
on the ledges between them — and backed by towering
ranges of perpetual snow. No valley intervenes to
break the interminable maze of mountain ridges, no
forest appears to gladden the prospect, nor is a vestige
of pasture traceable to mitigate the rough sterility of
the scene.

H

ii4 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

The only object of interest in the near landscape — and
it needs be looked for, so little discernible are its consti-
tuent elements in the dull uniformity of colour and
shade pervading the prospect — is the monastery of Lam-
may uru, whose mud-coloured huts and weather-worn
chlwrten are dimly traceable in the dark shadows at the
bottom of the descent down which our route lies.

Descending the gully, we approached this extraor-
dinary habitation in the solitude of these inhospitable
and rugged mountains, and camping on some terraced
slopes under the shadow of two cliffs on whose topmost
summits the monastery is perched, found our attention
for the moment diverted from the prompted contempla-
tion of those mysterious causes which influence reason-
ing man in the election of his mode of life — here to us
so strangely and strikingly exemplified — by the more
immediate bustle of the no less strange scene that sur-
rounded us.

The limited area of the shelving little basin, bordered
above by its lines of mane and rows of chhorten, was
covered with a confused crowd of docile Bhots, obstre-
perous yaks, and frisky ponies ; and was strewed in
characteristic disorder with piles of firewood, stacks of
fodder, and sacks of corn ; all of which, with other sup-
plies, had been collected here for the use of our party.

The scene of plenty and activity in the still solitude
of this barren spot was probably as rare a sight to its
phlegmatic inhabitants as was that of such a party as
ours amongst them, and the red garments of the Lammas
moving amongst the crowd testified to their having made
the occasion one for a holiday.

During the afternoon, Captain Chapman and I went
up the steep in rear of the cliff to explore the Gonpa or
Lammasary on its summit, and at the top of the ascent

THE LAMMAS OF LA MM A YUR U. 115

were cordially welcomed by some very jovial looking
priests, whose shaven crowns and rotund figures— barely
concealed by their loose gowns and covering mantle —
spoke of very comfortable fare ; whilst the heavy sen-
sual expression of their features, and merry mood of
mind told that the life of the Buddhist monk is not one
so entirely of privation and vigil as the solitude of his
situation and poverty of his country, apart from the
proper duties of his profession, would lead one to expect.
Our obliging friends very good-naturedly conducted
us through the intricate mazes of their dwelling, and
without the least prejudice or hesitation introduced us
to the mysteries of their " sanctum sanctorum." This
was a succession of three low-roofed, dark chambers, the
obscurity of which was dimly lighted by the flames of
half-a-dozen cotton wicks, or spiles, stuck upright in as
many pods of butter, set in little brass bowls which were
ranged in front of the idols. These last were supported
against the wall on a raised planking, and enshrouded by
hanging curtains of embroidered wool and silk drapery,
and were but indistinctly observable in the obscurity of
their mysterious retreat. The idols bore very much the
look of common Hindu deities, though they represented
a different mythology, and on the shelf in front of them
lay a number of the lingam and yuni emblems roughly
modelled out of lumps of barley-meal paste. We were
here received by the head Lamma, and half-a-dozen
others all arrayed in full canonicals, and standing in a
semicircle with their instruments of music ready in
hand. And at a nod from our attendants they assailed
us with a most diabolic confusion of sounds which, within
the close walls of their temple, produced none of the
more appropriate impressions we subsequently expe-
rienced under different conditions. The walls of one of

n6 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

the chambers are painted with pictures representing
episodes in the lives of particular deities whose morality
is exhibited in a vicious form, whilst the shelves of an-
other are piled with carefully folded manuscripts replete
with Buddhist lore.

From these we passed out through a rough little
doorway on to a small open court which was nearly
filled by a circular tope surmounted by a chhorten, and
from its parapet looked down the straight drop of the
cliff on which it stood on to our camp below, and across
the narrow valley on to the gravelly slope of the oppo-
site hill on which near its base was set the Buddhist
prayer, Om mane padme hon, in gigantic characters
formed of bright white pebbles.

We then entered some other low and narrow cham-
bers which appeared to be the dormitories and refec-
tories of the monks, and in one of them found two nuns
engaged in working up some meal into dough for the
evening repast. They were hard-featured bony-looking
creatures, and seemed to be the drudges of the establish-
ment. They did not cease their work even to turn and
gaze upon us as we passed. These chambers, like the
others appropriated to the service of their gods, were
mean and dirty hovels, and led by a wood staircase
down to some similar chambers full of stable litter, and
evidently the stalls of the ponies, cows, and goats of the
monastery. The view from the windows of the upper
rooms looked on one side up the gully we had come
down, and on the other down a dismal defile that lay
before us ; whilst in front it was faced by the blank array
of bare gravel and clay banking up the foot of the hill
that closed the valley on that side, and in rear was over-
looked by the rugged heights of a hill similarly desolate
and bare. A more tiresome and stupefying prospect is

LIFE IN A LAMMASAR Y. 117

not to be conceived, and is, doubtless, coupled with the
weary monotony of their existence, one cause of the dis-
reputable lives the monks lead. For during nearly half
the year they are doomed to idleness, shut up in their
inaccessible retreats by the frosts and snows of winter.

There are twenty monks (lamma) and eight nuns (kimi)
attached to this monastery (gonpa). They appear to be
a happy community, and by no means discontented with
their lot. Our guides showed us some malt liquor pre-
pared from the huskless barley of this country. It is
called chhang, and is the daily drink of the monks who,
under its influences, get comfortably fuddled and fat.
A spirit is also distilled from the same malt, and is only
used on special occasions when the community is per-
mitted to revel in drunkenness. Their superior is always
appointed from Hlassa, but the rest are recruited in the
country, the second son of every family being dedicated
to the priesthood. These lay priests, if I may so style
the Bhots, who are thus dedicated to the church, wear
the lamma dress, but pursue the ordinary avocations of
life till called to the cloisters, according to the require-
ments of their church, when they must renounce the
world, and assume the celibate life of the monk. With
the nuns the monastic life is optional, and apparently
is only adopted by the friendless and homeless.

The monasteries are supported by the people, and
governed by the Dalay Lamma (whose seat is Hlassa) as
the head of the faith, through subordinate Lammas ap-
pointed by him. The priesthood thus provided for pass
life with less of its cares and troubles than fall to the lot
of most mortals, and by all evidences their service in the
church is none of self-denial, nor of pious devotion to
the pure doctrine enunciated by their great lawgiver.

On the contrary, it is a vain repetition of meaningless

n8 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

formulae, and the degraded worship of images, without
discipline of mind or body. And it flourishes here
without a rival amongst a people steeped in the grossest
ignorance and most timid superstition. A people who,
in every change in the elements, and every accident of
daily life, see the intervention of an offended deity, or
the malignity of an evil spirit ; and whose whole anxiety
is to appease the one, and avert the other through the
mediation of their priests who are the only depositories
of their mental culture. This institution of the priest-
hood, however, coupled with that of polyandry which
obtains amongst this people, is not without its benefits ;
and, perhaps under the existing conditions, owes its
endurance to its adaptation to the requirements of the
country. And the two together are probably the forms
of polity best suited to the existence of the popula-
tion as a peaceable, well ordered, and industrious com-
munity.

It is the custom for the brothers of one family to
have a single wife in common, and for the children to
take the name and obey, as head of the family, the
eldest husband. By this means, and the transfer of so
many to a life of celibacy in the monasteries, the popula-
tion is kept down to a proportion which the country is
capable of supporting. For the only parts of it which
are habitable are the narrow valleys through which its
rivers flow, a.nd the little nooks in the mountains which
are watered by their torrent tributaries.

The population of the Ladakh province of Kashmir, from
this place to Nubra, is roughly estimated at 30,000 houses
or, reckoning seven per house, 210,000 souls. And after
passing through the country, that figure seems to me to
represent fully the number of mouths it is capable of
feeding.

B UDH2SM AND POL YANDRY. 1 1 9

Consequently it would seem that polyandry and
Budhism, each subservient to the other, and both to the
requirements of the locality, are practically the institu-
tions best suited to the country, and owe to this cause
their survival of the Mahommedan propaganda which
have been established, and flourish in the more produc-
tive countries to the north and south.

Otherwise it is not easy to account for the failure of
the crescentade from Yarkand in the sixteenth century,
nor for the cessation of the Mahommedan conquerors of
Kashmir in their career of victory and conversion at
the frontier of the country. Their polygamous institu-
tions, and more expansive polity, if forced upon the
country, must have produced a hard struggle for bare
existence, and endless forms of internal violence and
disorder would have come into operation to keep down
life to a supportable limit.

As it is, under the existing institutions, the population
is kept not only within the limit capable of supporting
life in the country, but of living as a peaceful, happy,
and well-ordered community amongst whom violent
crime is a rare offence, and litigation happily at a
minimum. Such being the case, we may pardon the
harmless superstition of the people, and weigh gently
the faults of their priests.

We left Lammayuru to its solitude and gloom early
next morning in pursuit of our route. The sky was
dull and overcast with a lead-coloured stratum of cloud
which increased the sombre hues of the mountains, and
intensified the dismal shades of the deep cleft defile
through which we set out from camp, the while affording
us a view of the country in a most depressing and melan-
choly form of its aspect.

Our path led down between some lacustrine banks of

120 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

fine clay into a deep, and dark, winding defile, over-
looked by some isolated pillars of gravel which stood
sentry-like on the steep slopes at its upper end, and
which by their tabular tops, inclined to a plane parallel
with that of the slope on which they stood, bore evi-
dence of the considerable wearing away of the soil
around them.

It then crossed from side to side following a thready
little stream, fringed with the coltsfoot and crowfoot
and other plants delighting in a moist soil, through a
succession of clefts in the rock ; and traversing steep
slopes of loose disintegrated slate by a soft unstable
track which looks down upon tremendous precipices
below, and up at stupendous heights above, finally
brought us to the bottom of the gully where it joins a
defile through which flows a clear blue stream coming
down from the Zanskar hills to our right. We went
down this tortuous defile by a carefully built path along
the river's banks across the slopes of rock and debris
which form them, and crossing the stream by spar
bridges two or three times en route emerged into the
more spacious valley of the Indus, here called Singhe
Khababs, on whose opposite bank is seen the high road
from Ladakh to Iskardo and Gilgit. My guide, here
pointing to the sandy and gravelly slopes of the Zanskar
stream where it joined the Indus, informed me that the
people of Iskardo were in the habit of coming here every
spring to search for gold brought down by the first
meltings of the winter snow.

The Indus here flows between overshelving banks of
conglomerate and gravel, amongst which are imbedded
masses of rolled granite resembling the great boulders of
the same rock which strew the surface along our route,
at the foot of the slate and schist slopes which bound

RECEPTION BY SHOT VILLAGERS. 121

the valley on either side. Its stream presents a turbid
and boisterous current rolling noisily over the rocks
obstructing its way.

At a mile or more from Khalsi, we crossed the river by
a spar bridge thrown across a gap in the hard blue slate
over which it here flows, and passing through the little
fort which occupies the rock at the farther end joined the
high road to Iskardo, or as often pronounced Skardo.
Like that on the opposite bank, it is a broad track over
the hard gravelly ground, strewed with rolled blocks of
granite, which forms the strip of land between the river
and the bounding slopes of slate arid schist debris.

Near the entrance to the village are some mane and
chhorten, and many of the latter are observed dotting
the surface on the outskirts of the village. They are
the monumental receptacles of the ashes of defunct
Lammas and lay Buddhists of distinction, and are set
around the village limits in the belief that the souls of
the departed still take an interest in the scenes of their
earthly life, and protect the precincts of their former
habitations by their direct intercession with the gods.
Our farther progress through the country showed a
similar disposition of these tokens of Budhist faith to
be the, general rule. That is to say they are built on
the roads leading into the villages, or. on eminences sur-
rounding them.

At the entrance to • Khalsi our party was received by
nearly the whole of its inhabitants assembled, in separate
groups of men and women, on the roadside. They
were headed by a Lamma who was busy turning a
prayer-wheel which he held in his hands, and as we
approached they all bowed low and saluted us with
the usual jo-jo, according to Bhot custom. The envoy
bowiog his acknowledgments our party went on, and

122 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

left the good-natured crowd to stare at the cavalcade
following in our train.

This is the village which, on the orthography of the
author then quoted, I have before mentioned under the
name of Gala' Shya as the winter quarters of the Yar-
kand army on their return from the disastrous attempt to
invade this sacred seat of the Budhist faith in the six-
teenth century. The fort itself is now a barely-distinguish-
able ruin. Its remains are seen a mile or so further up
the river, beyond a deep ravine which intervenes between
it and the village, perched on an isolated rock which
commands the passage at a narrow bend of the stream.
It is called Balo Khara by the Bhots, and is said to have
been demolished some thirty years ago by Zorawar Sing,
the Sikh general who conquered this country for the
Maharaja Gulab Sing. And the present little fort com-
manding the Khalsi bridge was built in its stead by
Diwan Hira Sing, the Maharaja's first governor of the
annexed province. Beyond the ruins the road goes
over some rough ground, obstructed by a confused
jumble of rocks of varied colour and composition, which
tumble down the slopes into the channel of the river
itself. There is greenish gneiss, mottled pudding-stone,
and black lava mixed amongst masses of bluish lime-
stone, ash-grey schists, and pebble conglomerate — all
within a course of a few miles ; and then the path re-
turns to a gravelly bank, covered with granite boulders,
similar to that left .at Khalsi. On this strip of drift,
which occupies a bend in the river channel, stands the
village of Snurulla with its walnut trees and apricot
orchards, and gravelly fields of corn. Distance from
Lammayuru, eighteen miles.

We camped on some fields between the village and
the river bank, and halted the next day — 17th Septem-

A VALANCHE OF STONES. 123

ber — weatherbound. A steady, soaking drizzle set in
soon after our arrival on the ground, and continued with
little intermission till the following evening ; whilst the
heavy clouds overhead we had set out with closed
around in the form of a dense nimbus which concealed
all from view beyond a few hundred yards. This wet
weather, despite its discomforts and gloom, proved very
useful and interesting in unfolding to us a fund of in-
formation on the physical phenomena of the country,
which might otherwise have remained unthought of or
unnoticed by us. The rain here, whilst it showed us
one of the dangers to which travellers in this country
are subject, and explained (what we had seen all along
the road without understanding their true meaning) how
they are avoided, also illustrated the manner in which
the mountains are gradually disintegrating, and ac-
counted for those long unbroken slopes of debris which
are the peculiar feature of their ranges.

Whilst occupied in the shelter of my tent my atten-
tion was repeatedly attracted by a swift rumbling sound
which suddenly ended in a rapid succession of loud
crashes, not unlike the discharge of musketry. I several
times rose and looked out across the river, above whose
bank we were camped, at the long slope of the hill
opposite, and from which the sounds proceeded, but could
see nothing to account for the strange noises. At length,
whilst gazing in search of some moving object on the
dull spread of bluish-grey ground facing me, I caught
sight of a great block of rock rolling down the steep.
It bounded from two or three projections in the line of
its descent, and breaking off fragments by the concus-
sion took them along with increased speed till, one after
the other, they all plunged from the bank amongst the
boulders in the river, and there ended their wild career

i24 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

with a succession of loud reports like the bangs of a
number of guns. Meanwhile the loose particles of slaty
debris down which they had come, thus set in motion,
kept up a rattling noise till their progress was stopped
by the resistance of heavier pieces below them. This
subsidence of the debris, though very declared by its
sound, was not easily discerned by the eye ; and it was
not till I had w^atched several large detached stones roll
down that I actually saw the debris itself in motion.

The alternate frosts and heats to which these rocks
are subjected, for both in their degrees are high within
the revolution of night and day, crack and fissure their
strata in all directions, and the wind playing upon
these gaps blows away loose particles, and thus widens
the rents. Then rain, or the stream of melting snow
from above, washes away some supporting dust or grit,
and the detached mass rolls headlong down the steep,
as described.

Not unfrequently such blocks of rock are set in motion
by the step of the wild sheep whose tracks are seen in all
directions on the hills of this country, scoring the slopes
with their chequered lines ; though what they can find to
eat is not apparent, for the hills areas bare as a picked bone.
We saw none of these animals on the line of march, but
were assured that they swarmed on the hills in our route.
This is probably true, judging from the similarity of the
hills to those on which we did find them subsequently.

These stone avalanches, if they may be so termed, are
of constant occurrence amongst these hills after rain, and
during the period the winter snows are melting away; and
they are one of the most dreaded dangers the traveller in
this country has to face, for it is not always that a river,
as here, interposes to protect him. And hence it is that
the Bhot never thinks of camping in the open in these

THE RA VEN AND ROCK MARTIN. 125

valleys, as he is wont to do on the wide plateaux of the
highlands, but always takes shelter in the cavern of
some secure bank, or scoops out, or walls in, some ready
hollow under the lee of any firm rock, as we saw so often
on our route. Further on in our journey we passed many
spots where we found the defiles obstructed by these
dangerous missiles, and had cause to congratulate our-
selves that there were neither melting snows nor showers
of rain at the time of our passage.

From Snurulla we marched to Saspol, eighteen miles.
Our route lay up the valley along the right bank of the
river, and crossed several bluffs projecting upon it. On
descending one of these we saw a raven hunt and kill a
rock martin close upon our path. The little thing was
sailing gaily to and fro under a vertical cliff, when its
huge black enemy swooping down from above terrified
it so with his pursuing hoarse croak, that after a vain
effort to escape the poor martin lost control over its
wings, and fluttering aimlessly was at once clutched by
the monster who alighted on a rock beside us, and forth-
with tore his tender prey asunder, I had a small stick
gun in my hand, and reining up fired a charge of No. 10
shot at the raven, but, though only six or eight paces off,
he flew away unhurt with his prize.

In the latter part of this march vegetation begins to
revive. The tamarisk fringes the water-courses with the
dog-rose, and the rock-rose, or "cistus," sprawls its
abundant foliage over the stony surface, whilst the
ephedra hides the rocky inequalities with its bristly
sprouts. Some small hamlets, too, appear on either side
of the river, perched upon high boulder banks sepa-
rated by deep ravines.

As we rode on to our camp-ground at Saspol we were
greeted by a full choir of the Lammas of the place.

126 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

They stood in a row a little off the road, and gave us a
performance on their instruments ; whilst the women of
the place, decked out in their best attire, and ranged in
a line along the roadside, saluted us with a low bow and
the usual jo-jo. We received a similar mark of welcome
at every place we came to on our onward journey through
Ladakh, though the Lammas did not always appear in
such grand form as here. There were eight of them, all
dressed alike in the red robes and high bonnets of their
order, and playing upon the instruments peculiar to their
craft. The character of the music was as strange and
unique as the appearance of the performers, and strikingly
in accord with the surroundings of the scene.

The beat of the drums and clang of the cymbals in no
degree lessened the initial bray of the trumpets, nor
marred the soft, sad airs of their final notes. Indeed,
the combination was admirably harmonised, and the
strong tones with which the music commenced floated
away to the silent hills in soft echoes prolonged by
the plaintive airs that followed them.

The trumpets are awkward-looking instruments from
six to eight or nine feet long, and curved like a cow
horn. The lower part rests on the ground, whilst the
performer, standing or seated, plays on the mouth-piece.
His practice consists of a succession of jerky blasts
which gradually diminish in force and duration till they
sound as soft trills which, in turn, lapse into plaintive
strains of peculiar pathos, and again swell into sonorous
and solemn sounds which are borne away on the air,
and prolonged in its vibrations.

The character of this music is altogether peculiar, and
unlike anything I have heard anywhere else. Its solemn
melancholy notes, heard floating off from some lofty cliff-
perched monastery, waken up the silent solitudes of the

STALK A HERD OF GAZELLES. 127

mountains with the only sounds appropriate to their
nature ; and they are re-echoed from their stern frowning
heights in response to the long, soft, plaintive lays that
follow them in a manner that strikes the ear as perfectly
agreeable to the scene.

Shortly after our arrival in camp Mr Johnson, the
Maharaja's governor of Ladakh, came in from Leh to pay
his respects to the envoy, and detail the arrangements
he had made for the escort of the embassy to the fron-
tier. He here joined our camp and accompanied it to
Shahidulla, himself with untiring energy and devotion
making all the arrangements for carriage and supplies
on the journey, and with a success we little anti-
cipated.

Our next march was to Nimmo, fourteen miles. After
marching an hour over some rough ground similar to
that before passed, and crossing a lively little torrent
from the hills on our left, we turned away from the
river bank, and riding on to a wide gravelly plain, sepa-
rated from it by a ridge of hill, crossed a corner of it,
and regained the river further on.

This undulating plateau is called Bazgo thang or the
" Bazgo Plain," and is the first open bit of ground we
have seen since crossing the Photo La. It is an arid
waste with hardly a blade of vegetation to vary the bare
nakedness of the soil. We found a herd of seven or
eight gazelles grazing at the hill skirt away to the left.
The envoy and I dismounted to stalk them, but, as the
ground offered no cover, our wary game, after a brief
survey and right judgment of our intentions, verified
by a long shot from each of us as they made off, went
across the plain to a valley beyond, in which, as we
followed a little way in pursuit, we discerned a bright
spread of cultivation around the villages of Tarutze and

128 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Ling. They are watered by the rivulet which we crossed
on our way to this point.

From the plateau we descended to the Bazgo hollow ;
it is a fertile and populous tract in this region of sterility
and solitude ; and picturesque in the clusters of its Bud-
hist monuments and neatly built dwelling-houses, amidst
a general spread of fields and fruit-trees which extend
away up amongst the hills to the north as far as the vil-
lage of Neh. Owing to its sheltered situation Bazgo is
reckoned the warmest winter residence in Ladakh. It has
a large shahran or "polo ground," which, as its neglected
state betokened, is now rarely used — the taste for the
sport having declined here with the downfall of the
native rule, only to linger awhile in the more remote
Dras and Kargil districts. The good people of Bazgo,
who assembled on the roadside to do honour to the
envoy as his cavalcade rode past their dwellings, appeared
to be a thriving and happy community. The Bhot
ladies who graced the ceremony with their presence had
evidently bestowed unusual attention to their toilet on
this rare occasion, and presented an array of Tatar
beauty and fashion we nowhere else saw to such advan-
tage ; whilst the natural simplicity and modesty of their
demeanour, coupled with the goodwill of their salutation,
evinced their care to produce a good impression upon
the stranger.

Their dress is remarkable, and like everything else in
this strange country apparently well adapted to its re-
quirements and the habits of the people. The long frock
and girdle sash, and the trowsers differ little from those
worn by the men. The material and the pattern are
much the same, but the colour and finish are different ;
and in their choice the fair ones display their proverbial
good taste. Dark colours or black relieved by an edging

BHOTMO TOILETTE. 129

of red or blue are those usually seen, and they set off to
the best advantage the ornaments the Bhot beauty is so
fond of; and not the least important of them the ample
sheepskin mantle, which, next to her head-dress, is her
special pride and care.

This is an oblong rug of sheepskin, loosely slung be-
hind by a band of braid passing obliquely across the
bosom, and ornamented at the edges of the fleece by a
broad border of particoloured patchwork. It serves as
shawl, wrapper, and bedding, as occasion requires ; and
it is always worn out of doors as a protection for the
back against the cold winds of the country.

But the head-dress is the most peculiar object of attrac-
tion amongst the strange fashions of the Bhotmo toilette.
The hair, parted in the centre of the forehead, is plaited
over the crown into two broad fillets, which are prolonged
as lappets hanging down the back by means of braided
wool adjuncts. The two fillets are united along the
middle line by a mixed row of couries, bits of red coral,
agate, turquoise, malachite, and gold coins, according to
the means of the wearer. These ornaments are some-
times seen studding the fillet so closely as to conceal the
hair, and form a sort of plated shield to the head.
Amongst the wealthy they are of finer quality, and look
well, but as commonly seen they form a repulsive-look-
ing medley suggestive of torment to the wearer ; for,
when once made up, they are seldom undone for months
together, or may be years.

The side tresses are arranged in puffs over each ear,
and kept in form by a patch of black fleece and braid,
which covers the ears and temples, and looks somewhat
like the blinkers of a coach horse ; and hanging from
the ears below their edges are strings of large beads of
glass, or coral, or turquoise, &c.

I

130 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Besides these the Bhot woman wears a necklace of
similar ornaments, and large wristlets of a single bit of
white conch, and in addition a chatelaine which hangs
from her girdle and is loaded with white bosses of conch,
or strung with couries, and beads of agate and turquoise ;
all conspicuous by their swinging against the dark ground
of her frock.

And yet, as if not already sufficiently decorated to
the taste of their partner lords, the comely ones, or those
who consider themselves so, add to the charms of their
personal adornment the improvement of the complexion
by the process called shogholo. This consists of smear-
ing the cheeks and forehead with the juice and seeds of
the ripe berry of the belladona plant which grows here
as a weed amongst the cultivation. Much pains are
bestowed — with the aid of a little hand mirror and pencil
of wood — in arranging the bright yellow seeds effectively,
and the result is that the face appears sprinkled with
grains of gold, and sparkles with a/ rich brightness which
could only please the Bhot accustomed to nothing more
varied than the monotonous shades of slate and granite
rocks.

At Nimmo, the Indus receives a considerable tributary
from the Zanskar valley, which lies to the south of some
snow-topped mountains bounding the valley on the op-
posite side. In the angle of junction is a wild waste of
gravel and conglomerate, the heat radiated from which
in summer is said to render Nimmo a very hot residence
during that season ; whilst in winter the cold is so severe
that the river is crossed on the ice.

It is to the effect probably of these combined causes —
the clear rays of a powerful sun, and the bright glare
from wide -spread snow, both acting in an unusually dry
and rarefied atmosphere — that the Bhot, I mean the

ARRIVE A T LEH. 1 3 1

common Bhot who is exposed to the weather, owes his
peculiar complexion. It is not the clear dark colour of
the people of India, however varied its shades from the
ruddy glow of the Afghan to the olive hue of the Hindu,
or from the sallow tinge of the hill- tribes to the black
skin of the outcast races of the peninsula. Nor is it
the light colour of the people of Tartary, with its lesser
range in variety from the dingy yellow of the Chinese
settlers to the pink and pale of the Andijani conquerors.

It is a dusky, muddy brown of very much the same
colour as the mountain region he inhabits ; so much so,
that he is often not distinguishable from the ground, un-
less his movements attract attention. Many times on
the march I was struck by this fact on suddenly coming
upon little groups of coolies seated on the road side,
whom I did not distinguish from the rocks and soil
around till close upon them ; and this not only in the
deep denies of the Indus tributaries, but also on the
wide plateaux of the Caracoram range..

The chiefs, and priests, and women of the wealthier
classes have much the same sort of turbid yellowish-
brown complexion, though in them it is less pronounced
than in the poorer classes. Amongst these it is shown
in full force by the poor peasant women who perform
the labours of agriculture, &c. ; and they are the most
hideous and repulsive creatures I have anywhere seen.

From Nimmo we marched to Leh — nineteen miles —
and halted eight days to complete arrangements for the
passage of the Caracoram. Our route led along the skirt
of some granite hills over an undulating gravelly tract
which gradually widens into the Ladakh basin or valley.

At about half-way we descended to the river channel.
It here presents a wide bed through which the Indus
winds its way amidst patches of cultivation and pasture.

132 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

On the left of the road, under the granite rocks, is a
succession of lacustrine banks of fine clay which slope
down to the basin in four or five steps. They end on a
narrow pass in the rocks below the Phitok GOD pa. This
is a Lammasary which looks over the valley from the
summit of a high rock on the river bank, and to the
right of our path.

As we rode past the Lammas appeared on the terraces
of their elevated abode, and gave us their benediction in
full band. From this we set our faces up the long
gravelly slope at the top of which stands Leh piled up
the hill sides in the fashion of the country. The valley
is a deep circular basin crossed midway by the Indus,
along whose course are several villages and much cul-
tivation. For the rest the land slopes steeply from both
sides to the river, and presents a wide surface of gravel
and stone, for the most part waste. At the foot of the
hills to the south are the villages of Stok -and Matha
with their orchards and fields ; and at the foot of those
on the north are the town and fort and suburbs of Leh,
the capital of the country.

On the outskirts of the town the envoy was welcomed
by a deputation of the principal merchants of the place,
and his arrival was announced by a salute of fifteen guns
from the fort, whilst a company of its garrison was
paraded on the roadside to receive him with military
honours. Further on he was met by Mr Shaw, the
British Joint-Commissioner, who conducted him through
the town to the Kesidency, in the garden of which our
camp was pitched.

During our stay here, our followers and cattle were
equipped with the warm clothing which the foresight of
our chief had ordered to be prepared against our arrival.
Each man was provided with a coat and cap lined with

WARM CLOTHING FOR THE PASSES. 133

sheep or lamb's skin, and boots lined with the same fur, or
else thick felt. And each of our riding horses and baggage
mules was covered with a strong blanket Kned with felt.

The experience the envoy gained on his former
journey to Yarkand was not lost on this occasion, and
it was in no small degree that the success of our passage
across those inhospitable highlands of the Caracoram
was owing to the admirable arrangements made by him.
Our followers and cattle were what we depended on to
serve and transport us in the time of need, and it was
necessary to maintain them in a state of efficiency. Our
followers and escort were consequently mounted, and
our baggage transported on the carriage provided by the
Kashmir authorities as far as the frontier. By this
arrangement our men and cattle arrived at the frontier
in a state of efficiency to meet contingencies, instead of
worn and broken down by the hardships of the worst
part of the road. And the wisdom of these precautions
was exemplified by our first experiences beyond the
Kashmir territory.

Our stay at Leh was enlivened by an excursion to the
southern side of the valley to visit the Hemis Gonpa,
eighteen miles, distant on the hills to the south of the
river, and to have a day's shooting on the hills beyond
Stok. Colonel Gordon, Captain Chapma^, and I set
out together for the monastery, which is the largest and
wealthiest in the country. It is situated at the top of a
singularly wild and solitary glen, frowned on at every
turn in its winding course by some overhanging bluff of
sombre conglomerate or gneiss. The silence here as we
followed the steep path, looking for the first glimpses of
the now familiar signs of the Lamma's retreat, was
oppressive ; and it was not till we had come in full view
of its white walls, shining against the dark ground of

134 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

the towering masses of rock behind, that our ears were
greeted by the melancholy music which floated on the
air from their lofty terraces.

The view of the monastery from below is wonderfully
picturesque, and altogether unique of its kind. The
white walls with their dark squares of window and
door, and thick red lines of coping, from which project
here and there poles topped with the bushy yak's tail,
spread over the cliffs tier above tier and, with great
masses of bare rock protruding amongst them, appear
isolated in the very crowd of their assemblage.

The vast rocks in their front and rear meet at a deep
narrow gorge beyond them in a mass of sombre shades
quite appalling in the grave monotony and naked-
ness of their forms — a monotony and nakedness alto-
gether unrelieved by the deep down strips of poplar
and willow plantations that stand on the banks of the
little rill they conceal by their thick growth.

The buildings of this monastery cover a considerable
surface and form a small town. In many respects the
architecture, even to that of the out-offices, resembles
what is still traceable in the Budhist ruins of Yusufzai,
particularly in those known as Takhti Bahi. In these
ruins, with the exception of those near Babozai, there
are no traces to show how the houses were roofed ; but,
from the resemblance of the structure of their walls,
staircases, chambers, &c., to what is now seen in the
monasteries of this country, it is probable they too were
of similar construction, particularly since the two locali-
ties are equally poor in timber trees.

In the exception above noted, I saw in 1865 a
chamber covered by a self-supporting roof in perfect
order, and composed entirely of square tiles with bevel-
led edges, the pressure of which against each other kept

A DAY AT HEM1S GONPA. 135

them from falling. This was evident in spots where
the plaster had fallen off in the roof itself, but was more
plainly seen by the relics of the broken roofs of adjoin-
ing chambers.

Here the roofs are flat, and supported on rafters laid
*with lath and brushwood and earth. And they have
a parapet coping of one to two feet thick, formed of
brushwood fascicles cut straight across, and laid with
the ends thus trimmed projecting six or ten inches
beyond the wall. These ends look much like those of a
bundle of lead pencils in arrangement, and are usually
stained with red ochre or similar colour.

The Hemis Gonpa is said to contain 800 monks and
nuns. We saw nothing like that population in the
place, though the accommodation is sufficient for a much
larger number. We were informed that snow lies here
for nearly three months every year, and that for five the
people are shut up in their cells owing to the cold.
Stores of grain, and flesh, and fuel, &c. are laid up in
autumn, and amongst other supplies 500 sheep are
slaughtered, and the flesh dried for the winter use of this
monastery alone.

Our guides led us through the principal parts of the
monastery, and from one block of houses to another,
through narrow passages and up flights of steps, with the
prayer- wheel meeting us at every turn. Here we found
it spinning on the hand of a sedate Lamma, squatted
solemn and silent in some solitary corner. Further on
it was revolving under a thin jet of water, and elsewhere
it was fixed in niches of the walls for the passer-by to
turn as he went past, or it was stuck on some pinnacle
for its wings to catch the moving breeze, and record so
many more prayers of praise to the Almighty. At length
we were conducted to a court in which a company of Lam-

136 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

mas presently entertained us with a pantomime perfor-
mance, the subject of which none of us understood. It
was a very grotesque spectacle in imitation, we were
told, of Chinese devil dances. The designs on the rich
silken robes of -the monks were evidently from the
Celestial Empire. Most of the masks represented the
heads of wild animals, and there were some of ogres and
demons. These last, however, were the devices most
common on the embroidery of the robes worn by the
actors. There were some twenty or thirty of them alto-
gether, some of whom had been assembled here for the
occasion from the monasteries of Tiksi, Math a, and Stok.

Their performance consisted of a wild sort of dance
round a flag staff in the centre of the court of the
principal temple ; and we witnessed it from the roof of
a verandah facing a flight of steps at the entrance of
the temple. The actors issued from the hall of the
temple, headed by two portly Lammas in gorgeous silk
robes (their appearance reminded one of the knave of
cards), who took up a position opposite the musicians —
beforehand seated in the verandah below us — whilst the
rest, a troop of goblins, griffins, stags, boars, tigers, &c.,
&c., running down the steps, ranged themselves in a
circle round the flagstaff, from which floated streamers of
different colours.

The musicians now commenced some very lively and
discordant music, and the dancers, at once set in motion,
began to caper, and whirl, and fling their limbs about,
the whole circle the while keeping its form and revolv-
ing round the centre pole. The bright colours of the
loose mantles, covered with monstrous figures of flying
dragons all eyes and teeth, of skulls and bones, of
forked-tongue griffins, &c., with the huge masks of ogres
and wild beasts all mixed together in a wild commotion,

INTERIOR OF BUDHIST TEMPLE. 137

formed an absurd melange, and with the noise of drums
and trumpets, produced a perfect pandemonium, to the
tumult of which the actors contributed by now and
again joining in a chorus of unintelligible sounds. The
performance concluded suddenly by the 'flight of the
company up the steps down which they had come, back
to the great hall of the temple from which they had
emerged.

We presently followed them into their " sanctum,"
and were shown its mysteries, which were hidden behind
hangings of richly embroidered silk. There were three
principal halls hung with these screens, and each con-
tained a number of deities, before whom were burning
little wicks set in butter, just as we saw at Lammayuru.
Some of the walls were piled with bundles of books on
which the dust lay thick in reproof of their neglect; and
others were covered with a multitude of paintings, often
the representation of the same individual.

Amongst the number I recognised several from their
resemblance to the sculptures excavated at Takhti Bahi,
and elsewhere in Yusufzai. Particularly one supposed
to represent Budh. It had a smooth face with a
placid expression, and the head, the hair of which was
gathered in a top -knot at the crown, was backed by a
glory circle. The figure was seated cross-legged. An-
other was the portrait of some ancient king, whose head
was adorned with a tiara of jewels of exactly the same
pattern as those seen on some of the sculptures above
mentioned.

Various animals and birds were also represented on
the walls and hangings, and amongst them I recognised
the sacred stork and the ostrich, though how this last
came amongst them is not very intelligible. In these
paintings I saw none of those historical tablets or domestic

138 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

scenes so common amongst the ancient sculptures, nor
the variety of race type that is traceable amongst them ;
and was altogether disappointed in the architecture and
fittings of the temple, as well as in the character of the
art displayed within its walls.

During the years from 1861 to 1866, when with the
Corps of Guides at Murdan, I excavated several of the
Budhist ruins in the neighbouring parts of Yusufzai,
and collected some hundreds of sculptures which, prior
to my departure, were sent to the museums at Lahore
and Peshawar. They represent a great variety of sub-
jects, and several distinct races, and in an artistic point
of view are of very different degrees of merit, as if the
work of different periods. Amongst these sculptures
were many which are supposed to represent remarkable
events in the life of Budh, much after the same fashion
that we picture those in the life of Christ. But I saw
nothing here, either in the form of sculpture or paint-
ing, that bore any resemblance to these, though in the
fifth century, when Fa Hian journeyed this way,
Ladakh, in common with Yusufzai, was a flourishing
seat of Budhism.

The high art, showing the cultivated talent of Greece,
which is in Yusufzai illustrated in such varied forms, is
nowhere traceable in this country amongst those charged
with the special protection of Budhism, even if it ever
did exist here in past times to the same degree of ad-
vancement as it did there, which, considering the nature
of the country, and its sparse population, is not very
probable.

Besides, from what is known of the history of the
country — imperfect as it is — it would appear to have
escaped those assaults of Islam which, in the tenth and
eleventh centuries, laid waste the more accessible

DECAYED STATE OF BUDHISM. 139

regions around it, with a destructive fury the traces of
which are still seen in the ruins that cover their surface.

Daring the ascendancy of the Mughal Empire, this
country appears to have enjoyed undisturbed, under the
tolerance characteristic of that rule, the possession of its
ancient faith. And in the anarchy which, during the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, dismembered the
Chaghtay kingdom, of which it formed a part, it would
appear to have remained more or less isolated in the
preservation of its own laws and institutions. For
the restoration of Islam, on the reconstruction of the
Chaghtay kingdom by Toghluc Tymur in the middle of
the fourteenth century, did not advance beyond its
former limit at Khutan ; whilst the succeeding absorp-
tion of his kingdom into the empire raised by his
cotemporary and survivor, the Amir Tymur Lang or
Tamarlane, in the last quarter of the same century,
effected no more in Tibat than did the rule of his pre-
decessor in Mugholistan.

The death of Tamarlane was again the signal for in-
ternal dissensions, and, in the revolutions attending the
partition of his empire, Kashghar rose into an independent
kingdom as the heritage of the Mughal Khans, descend-
ants through Toghluc Tymur of the Chaghtay sove-
reigns. Their rule, however, was so disordered and
weak, through internal discords and contentions as much
as through the political influences of the Tymuride
government in the adjoining regions to the west, that it
soon fell into the hands of a powerful family of the Dogh-
lat tribe, which, since the time of Changiz, had enjoyed
certain ranks and privileges as military governors of the
several divisions of the Kashghar state. And finally, the
government was usurped, in the last quarter of the
fifteenth century (1479), by Mirza Ababakar, a descend-

140 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

ant of the hereditary Amirs Khudadad and Camaruddin,
who figured so prominently in the history of the country
under the dynasty of the Mughal Khans.

He commenced his career as independent ruler of
Kashghar by the conquest of Khutan, and made some
unsuccessful attempts to subjugate Tibat (which, under
native chiefs, had maintained its freedom since the dis-
solution of the Chaghtay empire), his incursions being
always repelled at the Nubra frontier. His successor,
however, in whom the government, in 1513 A.B., was
restored to the line of the Mughal Khans, signalised the
close of his reign by that invasion of Ladakh which I
have before mentioned. It is the first record we have
of any attempt to plant Islam on this Bud hist soil, and
its disastrous results were repeated on a smaller scale in
the beginning of the next century when Mir Ali, the
Musalman chief of Baltistan, took Leh, and destroyed
the monasteries all over the country.

He was obliged to retrace his steps to Skardo, his
capital, and restore Jamya Namgyal, the native chief
whom he had taken prisoner, to the government of his
own country. And he immediately restored the ancient
religion, and left those memorials of his zeal for the faith
which we see in the existing rock-inscribed figures of
Chamba which I have already mentioned, and dated on
the authority of Cunningham's history of this country.

We have no other record of Islamite invasion of this
country, though it has, since the time of Mir Ali, been
traversed by the armies of Musalman allies. When,
in 1678, Khoja Afac usurped the government of Kash-
ghar from the descendants of Sultan Said Khan, in
whom the rule of the Mughal Khans was restored, and
sought the aid of the Calmac chief to support him
against his opponents, the Ghaldan of Zunghar, coming

MUGHAL INVADERS OF TIB AT. 141

in answer to this appeal with an army of his Budhist
Calmacs, seized the country for himself. And when
some years later, in 1685, the members of the Khoja
family rebelling were driven out of the country, and
some of them fled to Kashmir through Tibat, a force of
Zimghar troops — called Sarigh or Saigh (Yellow) Calmac
in distinction, to the Cara (Black) Calmac of Tibat —
was sent in pursuit of them to Leh, which they took
possession of, the Gyalpo or chief of Ladakh tendering
allegiance to the Mughal sovereign in India sought aid
of Aurangzeb's governor of Kashmir to expel them. He
sent an army of 6000 Musalmans to drive the invaders
from the country, which they did, and returned to
Kashmir the following season. The Saigh Calmac or
Soghpo, as the Bhots call them, however again invaded
the country to avenge the conduct of their recalcitrant
brethren, and after plundering Leh retired, on the cession
of some territory which gave them the country of
Eudok.

After this Ladakh remained in the hands of native
rulers till 1720, when it was again invaded by Mir
Murad of Skardo who annexed it to his principality of
Baltistan ; and it so remained for thirty years. His
conquest appears to have been dictated by purely worldly
motives, and was free from the religious promptings of
Islamite ambition, and the Budhist religion continued
to linger in its old home in despite of its neglect under
the new regime. And when the rule returned to the
Gyalpo or chief of Ladakh, soon afterwards a recognised
tributary of Kashmir, it made no effort to revive from
the state of decay to which it had fallen, but seems to
have continued much in the degraded form we find it
under the Hindu government of Kashmir, to which it
was finally annexed in 1834.

142 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

From the monastery of Hemis — which has insensibly
led me off into this historical digression — we returned
to near Changa on the road to Leh, and there turning
off to the left followed a rough ^stony tract at the foot of
the hills for six or eight miles up to Matha, where we
arrived at dusk — just twelve hours after we set out —
and joined the camp of the envoy.

Next morning I accompanied Captain Chapman, and
the camp sergeant, on an excursion after some wild sheep,
of the kind here called Shapti, which had been marked
down on the hills to the south of Matha and Stok. We
set out at 6 A.M., and turning up a glen above the vil-
lage followed up a more or less frozen stream trickling
down its winding channel for some ten miles or so, and
then rose up to a high moorland which formed a basin
in the hills. The greater part of the glen was thickly
wooded with willow, poplar, and tamarisk trees, amidst
which grew the rose and the currant, whilst the moor-
land, which rose up in long slopes to the snow, was
covered with tufts of artemisia and a caryophyllous
plant here called burtsi. We found some cattle and
sheep grazing here, and in the centre of the plateau, near
a deep ravine, came upon some shepherds' huts where
a horribly ugly and dirty old Tatar gave us a drink of
sour milk out of a wooden bowl which was as unwashed
as himself.

Our party had dispersed in the glen up various gullies
in quest of game, and we all met a little beyond these
huts. On comparing notes we found we were equally
empty handed thus far, and set out on our way across
the moor towards a pass in the hills closing it on the
opposite side. When near the top of the rise we came
upon a herd of thirty or forty wild sheep, which, watching
our detour in different directions to stalk them, set off in a

A DAY AFTER WILD SHEEP. 143

stampede down the slopes, and away to the opposite side
of a deep gully, only one of their number falling to the
steady aim of the sergeant. As the day was now well
advanced, we continued our way to camp down a long
winding defile, without a stick of vegetation along its
stream or elsewhere, and at 6 P.M. joined the envoy's
camp at Stok.

In our ramblings we came upon the snow pheasant, or
rdmchaJcar of the Kashmiris, and the blue pigeon of
these mountains. We returned to Leh next day after
beating up a willow plantation near Stok, and making
a poor bag of the blue hare of this, country.

CHAPTEE V.

OUR arrangements at Leh being completed, and intima-
tion of the Sayyid Ya'cub Khan's departure from
Murree with the staff of Turkish officers he had brought
with him on return from Constantinople having been
received, the Embassy set out from Leh in pursuit of
its route on the 29th September. Our first march was
seven miles to the huts, called polu, at the foot of the
ascent to the Khardong pass which overlooks Leh from
the north. At about half-way the road passes beyond
the terraced fields of Shankar Gonpa and the hamlet of
Ginglis, and leads across two ancient glacier beds, and the
moraines marking their sides and angle of junction, up to
a winding gully the top of which is occupied by a small
glacier mass.

We camped in this gully at the foot of the pass.
Its elevation is about 14,900 feet, or 3400 feet above
Leh. The view across the valley at the Kanari range,
which separates Zanskar from Ladakh, is very fine, and
presents an extent of snowy scenery which we nowhere
saw to such advantage on our farther route. At this
place we got a mild foretaste of the cold that was in
store for us, for during the night the thermometer fell
to 15° F., whilst a cutting south wind swept over the
camp with a penetrating force, such as we fortunately did
not experience on more exposed situations.

In the morning we made the ascent of the pass, and
going down a long slope on its other side, camped on the

ASCENT OF KHARDONG PASS. 145

gravelly fields of the Khardong village, distance fifteen
miles. This pass, like that of Diggar on the same range
farther round to the east of Leh, is very steep and difficult,
and upwards of 1 7,000 feet high. I stopped nearly half an
hour at the crest of the pass to observe the indications of
the instruments I had with me. A strong cold wind was
blowing at the time, and though we were under the lee
of a rock, and raised low walls of snow round them, it
was not easy to protect the instruments from circling
eddies of cold air. I found the same difficulty at all the
high passes, and, unless the operation is conducted with
the greatest care, am inclined to trust more to the indi-
cation of a good aneroid than to those of a hastily set up
barometer, or the results shown by the hypsometer.
Under these conditions, it is always difficult to keep the
tube of the barometer steady, and one seldom has leisure
to wait long enough to allow the mercury to recover
from the vibrations thus communicated to it. Whilst
with the hypsometer the tube itself immediately above
the boiler is so chilled by the cold air, that the steam
.which blows from it not only does not properly heat it
but itself gets chilled, as well as the mercury it raises in
that part of the tube of the thermometer which is exposed
to the air for the purpose of reading the boiling point ;
and hence it is that the mercury is seen to range up and
down five or six-tenths of a degree before it gives a
steady reading. These and other effects of a varying
atmospheric influence account for the difference in the
observations recorded by different individuals at the
same spot, and even by the same individuals at different
times.

At the Khardong Pass the barometer stood at 15*464,
the aneroid at 15'58, and the hypsometer at 181°*4 F.,
with the temperature of the air at 28° F. The Khar-

K

146 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

dong range runs from north-west to south-east, and
separates the valley of Ladakh from that of the Shayok
river. It is composed of gneiss and granite, the debris
of which obstructs the path on both its sides with sharp
angular rocks.

The ascent being too steep and high for our cattle,
their loads were transferred to yaks — called by the
Bhots dong — of which hardy creatures some four hun-
dred or so had been provided for the purpose. We our-
selves also made the passage on the backs of these
useful but ungainly brutes, whilst our camp followers
were mostly borne over upon their riding ponies.;

The dong is a steady and sure animal at these great
heights, notwithstanding the pranks some of them are
apt to play upon the stranger. He is led by a rope
attached to a wood ring which passes through the
division of the nostrils, and moves with a slow, easy,
riggling sort of gait, rising or descending over obstruc-
tions with very little jar. They pant distressingly, and
grunt unpleasantly much, even making allowance for all
they may be entitled to say. They stop to take breath
repeatedly, and each time munch the snow, if they don't
also dash off to one side for a roll in it.

The descent of the pass on the further side was very
steep and difficult, across the slippery surface of a small
glacier, down to a pool at the foot of the drop. Many of
our followers were affected by the elevation with head-
ache, nausea, and giddiness, so that several tumbled off
their ponies and grazed their cheeks and hands upon the
rocks and ice.

At the pool we mounted our horses and passed down
a gently sloping gully to some polu huts on a small
turfy flat. We alighted here for breakfast whilst the
baggage passed on, and were the while assailed by the

MARCH IN A FALL OF SNO W. 147

shrill calls of the marmot protesting against our intrusion,
or perhaps that of the yaks which had been here let loose
to graze. I observed that these strange animals — the yaks
— instead of eating the rich peat turf in the bottom of
the gully, spread themselves over its rocky slopes to
nibble the stunted herbage growing along the snow line.

Continuing our route down the slope, we passed
tributary gullies on the right and left, with their upper
parts blocked with glaciers, and, descending a moraine
bank, came upon the mane and chJiorten which an-
nounced our approach to camp, which we presently
reached at 4 P.M. The baggage did not all come in till
two hours later, having been eleven hours on the road.
Much to the credit of Mr Johnson and his Bhot
assistants the march, which is one of no ordinary diffi-
culty, was got over without accident or delay.

The sky had been overcast and menacing all day,
but towards sunset cleared somewhat, and the moon and
stars shone climly as we went to bed. In the morning,
however, we aAvoke to find the ground covered with two
or three inches of snow, and our camp obscured in a
fog. Our departure was delayed till nearly nine o'clock,
when we set out in a thick fall of snow. Our route led
north-east down the slope of the high beach on which
Khardong stands into the boulder bed of its river, where
we passed out of the snow.

The stream flows between high banks of gravel and
conglomerate, which rest on rocks of gneiss and mica
slate. They are fissured by deep gullies which, to-
wards the river, present long slopes of loose debris.
The moisture at the top had overweighted this, and
loose stones were continually rolling down across our
path, and kept us on the alert to avoid them. Our
coolies showed the greatest alarm, and hurried along

148 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

under the shelter of bushes and rocks as fast as they could.
A whole shower of these rolling stones shot over my head
whilst passing under a ledge of rock. The coolies about
us immediately crouched into the shelter of the bank,
and I reined up with them, and then followed them in
the scamper across the open bit of ground ahead. I
heard of no accident to any of our party from these
dangerous self-propelled missiles. At about four miles
from camp the rivulet passes through a narrow gap be-
tween perpendicular cliffs of a light-coloured crystalline
limestone, and beyond it widens into the bed of the
Shayok river.

Its course is thickly set with a brushwood of myri-
caria, and tamarisk, and rose, and buckthorn, and is
crossed three or four times on little rustic bridges propped
on piles of turf and boulder. We crossed the Shayok
on horseback, with the water well up the saddle-flaps,
and then stood to see our little army of followers come
over with the baggage. The passage was effected by all
in a crowd together very expeditiously, and without
accident, though the stream was fully eighty yards
across. We then went down the bank a little way and
camped at Satti — distance seven miles.

Next day we made a short stage of seven miles down
the valley to Tint, a few miles beyond which the Nubra
valley joins that of the Shayok opposite the villages of
Diskit and Hundar. The valley is an open river channel
between bare hills of schist and granite and gneiss.
The river flows in a broad stream upon a broader bed of
pebbles and boulders, and is flanked by an interrupted
strip of alluvium on either bank. The alluvium is
covered with small jungle patches of buckthorn, and
tamarisk, and myricaria, interspersed amidst the culti-
vated fields of the little hamlets which here and there

THE NUBRA VALLEY. 149

enliven the scene and complete the picture of its pros-
perity.

From Tirit we marched to Tagar, seven miles. At
half way we left the Shayok, and went up the course of
the Nubra river to Tagar, where we camped under the
shade of some large trees near the village. Amongst
the more common apricot, willow and poplar, I recog-
nised the elm and the elseagnus. The river runs in
divided streams over a wide bed of shingle and sand, on
which are island patches of buckthorn and myricaria
brushwood. The aspect of the valley is much the same
as that of the Shayok in this part of its course ; but the
opposite bank to that on which our route lies slopes
steeply to the river, and is scored with a water-line
which marks a flood of the Shayok in 1859.

We passed two or three little villages " en route " with
a good deal of cultivation about them. The outskirts
of the village lands are marked by numerous latoli to
warn off intrusion by evil spirits. The latoh is a round
pillar four or five feet high, and is usually built up of
mud and stone on some commanding eminence or rock.
On its top is fixed a thick bundle of twigs from which
stand up long poles, to the tops of which are tied whisps
of yak-tail; whilst the faggot of twigs itself is stuck
about with the horns of the wild sheep.

The principal crop grown here is barley of the husk-
less variety, called grim or nas. It is the staple diet of
the Bhot, and much in demand by caravans journeying
this way. For their benefit also the lucerne is grown in
hedged-about plots, and let out at so much a head for
cattle let in to graze. The meal of the roasted barley —
called sattu in India and snomphe here — is, with the
solatia of tea and tobacco, the only food of the Bhot on
the tramp. For a long march he fills a wallet of kid-

150 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

skin with it, and slinging it across his Lack sets out per-
fectly independent of inn or hotel. When hungry he
sits down at the edge of the first rill he comes to, and
filling the koray or " wooden bowl " with the flour, adds
a little water, and with a very dexterous use of his
fingers mixes it into dough, without ever the loss of a
grain of the precious meal, which he next manipulates
into morsels, and eats with a relish and satisfaction
quite reproachful to more dainty mortals. The fondness
of the Bhot for this simple food is as great as his attach-
ment to the koray (which is veritably his constant bosom
companion, for it is never out of his fob, but when in
use as a drinking bowl, or dough trough, or porridge
pan), and even in these populous parts he makes it the
chief constituent of the more varied fare the homesteads
furnish.

At this place our camp was overtaken by Mulla Artoc,
a messenger of Sayyid Ya'cub Khan to his master at
Kashghar, to warn him of his return with the embassy.
This man left Constantinople on the 14th August, and
after a few days' stay in Egypt landed at Bombay,
whence he travelled by rail to Lahore, and thence by
horse to this, where he arrived this afternoon — the 3d
October. He went on next day towards Kashghar,
whence after some days he was sent back by Atalik
Ghazi as the bearer of letters of welcome to the envoy,
and his own kinsman the Sayyid, and met us at Sanju
on the last day of October.

From Tagar we marched to Panamik, twelve miles,
and halted there the 5th of October. In about an hour
we came abreast of Churasa on the opposite side of the
river. It is the residence of the former chiefs of the
Nubra district, and has a small palace, fort, and monas-
tery ; all very picturesquely perched on some rocks pro-

HOT SPRINGS AT PANAMIK. 151

jecting towards the river from the range of hills behind,
and conspicuous objects on the landscape — their white
walls shining brightly above the green spread of vegeta-
tion below and against the bare rocks of the back-
ground.

Further on the road crosses a turfy hollow, white with
soda efflorescence. We were informed that 3000 maunds
of this salt had been collected here this season for the
Kashmir market. It is used by the Tibatans to improve
the colour and draw out the flavour of their tea. Copper
is found in several spots of this and the Shayok valleys.
The ore is worked in the vicinity of Churasa, and there
affords employment to a dozen families or so. I was
shown some specimens of the ore found in the Shayok
valley. It contained some nuggets of the kind called
" peacock ore," mixed up with crude sulphate of copper.

Beyond this little soda plain, and about a mile short
of Panamik, we came to some hot springs at the foot of
the hill on the right of the road. They issue on the
surface at several spots on the slope of a high bank of
gravel and grit — the debris of the gneiss rocks above —
which here rests upon the base of the hill, and are
divided into two groups by a ridge of the same debris
some eighty yards across. They steam where they issue
on the surface, and trickle in thready lines down the
slope, depositing a white encrustation of sulphate of lime
which has a decidedly tart taste. On some of the
pebbles at the points of issue I found a deposit of sul-
phur. I took the temperature of the largest stream at
different points, and found it 155 '5° F. at a little pool
at the point of issue, 146° F. at 8 paces off, 124° F. at
20 paces, and 90° F. at 70 paces. Another stream close
by was 167 F. at the spring-head. All the little
streams of the group to the west are conducted by a

iS2 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

single channel, 14 inches wide and 3 inches deep, into a
couple of tanks which are enclosed by walls divided into
two bathing compartments ; whilst adjoining is a small
hut used as a shelter by the bathers.

These baths are much resorted to by the natives and
by travellers from Yarkand, and are said to be very effi-
cacious in the cure of chronic rheumatism and syphilis.
There is a similar set of springs in the hill-side at Chang-
lung, the next stage from this. I found the tempera-
ture of three of the upper springs to be respectively,
140° R, 172° R, and 174° R, at the point of issue, and
of three of the lower ones, 163° R, 169° R, and 170° F.
One of the upper springs issued in a small pool under
the lee of a great block of gneiss imbedded in the sur-
rounding grit and debris. The pebbles in the pool were
yellow with a coating of sulphur, as was the calcareous
deposit on its sides, and a deep subterranean rumbling
was heard repeatedly as of the explosion of pent-up air.
There was a bathing hut here also as at the Panamik
springs.

During our halt at Panamik our yaks and cattle were
changed for fresh ones, which had been collected here
for us, and then we went on twelve miles to Changlung,
a poor hamlet of eight or ten houses— scattered amidst a
little oasis of leafless trees and patches of stubble — the
ultima thule of habitation in this direction. It is a
wretched little place at the foot of the Carawal Dawan,
and stands isolated in the midst of a long strip of gravel
and sand with nothing but bare rocks around. In its
winternakedness and solitude it represents to the traveller
a foretaste of what lies ahead, and interposes mercifully
as a link between the haunts of man and the regions of
blank desolation beyond. And well do I recollect the
joyful satisfaction with which on our return journey we

THE CARAWAL DA WAN. 153

looked down on this very spot from the crest of the hill
above. Its humble cabins were concealed by a summer
foliage, and set around with a bright carpet of young
crops which to our eyes, wearied by the endless wastes
of the plateaux we had traversed, seemed a perfect para-
dise, and we welcomed the sight as a meet emblem of the
civilisation we had regained.

We marched from Changlung on the 7th of October,
and camped at Tutyalac — twelve miles. The baggage
went ahead at 7 A.M., and we followed, after an early
breakfast, two hours later. The morning was clear and
frosty, and the sky without a cloud. Our path led by
a steep zigzag up the face of a high range of granite
hills close above the village, and as we set out we saw
the crowd of our cattle and followers slowly toiling
up the steep like an army of ants. At the foot of the
rise we mounted the yaks awaiting us, and under the
guidance of their leaders, threaded our way through the
long row of their more heavily weighted fellows, and their
less sturdy companions in such toil — the mules and
ponies. At the top of the steep there is a small ledge
of flat land, and then another rise to the crest of the
pass.

From this ledge we got a magnificent view of the
mountains to the south. The air was extremely clear
and light, and the lofty snow peaks, shooting up against
a blue sky, stood out with a clearness that revealed
more fully the vast extent of the glaciers around them —
at this distance the glare of their fresh coating of snow
glittering harmlessly.

Beyond the ledge the rise is more gradual up to the
Carawal Dawan, or " Outpost Hill." It is the first
Turki name we have met, and but an empty memorial
of the Yarkand invasion by Sultan Said, the memory of

154 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

which is thus unwittingly perpetuated by the merchants
from that country, for the Bhots here, as elsewhere on
this route, have their own names for the several localities,
and call this spot Hlasgya. But it bears about it other
memorials of weightier import than its mere name to
those who frequent it nowadays, and which by their
silent testimony tell of the suffering and loss of life this
inhospitable region claims as its right. The relics that so
plentifully strew the surface here are merely a foreshadow-
ing of what lines the whole route down to Sanju on the
other side of the barrier between Hind and Tartary.

Around the stage huts on the top of the pass I found
skeletons and bones of horses and yaks in every stage of
decay, and amongst them some human bones. And on
our camp ground at Tutyalac we found amidst the mass
of similar relics the bodies of two unknown men — too
far decayed to distinguish between Bhot and Yarkandi,
or Kashmiri and Panjabi.

I stopped at the crest of the pass to take the eleva-
tion, which I found to be about 14,550 feet. Whilst
watching the hypsometer my guide called attention to
an eagle soaring overhead, and as my rifle — it was a
Henry Express — was close at hand resting against a
rock, I raised it for an aim. Just at this moment the
eagle turned his eye full on the weapon, and instantly
the ball (aimed at his body) went through it. He came
down with a tremendous thud, and that was all.

The meek undemonstrative Bhots about the spot
seemed quite unconcerned, and expressed no surprise —
unless by wonderful prescience they knew it was a lucky
hit — at a shot which would have sent an Afghan into
ecstasies of delight. No ! So great is the difference in
their character, that where the Bhot stood still and
gaped stupidly, the Afghan would have applauded and

A LUCKY SHOT. 155

not rested till he had examined the weapon inside and
out, and ended by asking me to give it to him. The
bird measured 106 inches in the stretch of the wings,
and 49 inches from beak to tail — tip to tip.

From the crest of the ridge the path led across a steep
slope of loose shifting gravel down to a deep and rocky
boulder bed, through which rolled noisily a tributary of
the Nubra river, which we had yesterday crossed at its
junction with it on the march to Changlung. We now
crossed it again by a rickety spar bridge — the last of those
shaky but welcome aids to the traveller on this route of
torrents and rocks, and the final effort in this direction
of man to overcome the impediments of nature — and
passing up the opposite bank, camped on a level flat imme-
diately under the glacier from which the torrent issued.

Tutyalac— as the Bhots pronounce the Turdi AyMc or
"Enduring Pasture," of the Turki traveller on this route
— is merely a camp stage on a small turfy moorland in the
midst of the wildest of mountains, which in their rugged
nakedness foretell the treeless character of the region
beyond. The Bhots call the place Pangdongtsa, which,
so far as I understand, means the " Pleasure Ground of
the Yak," and if so, his tastes assuredly differ from
those of most creatures.

The billowy surface of the glacier was encumbered by
a thick coating of rocks and stones impacted in its icy
grip, and, as the moon cast its reflected light into this
isolated hollow, shone with a silvery lustre, well set off
by the dull shades of the encircling rocks, and heightened
in effect by the glorious purity of the snowy peaks stand-
ing sentinel-like around.

Our baggage did not all come up till past five o'clock,
and as the successive batches of yaks came up, they
were relieved of their loads and let loose to wander over

156 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

their "pleasure ground." In the morning when I rose
to record the readings of my instruments, the minimum
thermometer under the shelter of my tent verandah
registered 11° F. I observed the Bhots, lasso in hand,
clambering up the hill-slopes after their unruly beasts,
and watched them catch one by one by a dexterous
throw of the lasso. This was quite enough for the yak.
He stood directly the rope struck the horns, and with
its end tied to his nose-ring, was led down prisoner for
the day's task before him.

From this we marched to Brangtsa — eighteen miles.
It is a small collection of stone-wall enclosures to pro-
tect the traveller and his cattle from the icy blasts that
blow down from the glacier pass above, and looks down
upon the broad bed of the Shayok river, which we here
come upon again, as it sweeps eastward with that grand
bend it makes round the mass of hills we have crossed
from Changlung.

Our baggage began moving out of camp at six A.M.,
and we followed two hours later. The path wound
from north to east and back to north, through a narrow
defile bounded by lofty granite mountains, whose peaks
were laden with perennial snow, and whose gullies were
blocked with glaciers large and small which sloped
down on either side of the pass, and presented a scene
of wildness and grandeur that is rarely witnessed.

The uneven surface on either side of our rough path
was strewed in the utmost confusion with a profusion of
rocks and angular blocks of stone, which were barely
concealed by the snow everywhere covering the ground ;
whilst the ceaseless din of the streams pouring over
them from all sides produced a confusion of sounds which
the noise of our coolies and cattle did not drown.

After two and-a-half hours we came to a small flat

THE GLACIERS OF SASER. 157

where the defile bulges, and found a camp ground called
Sar-thang, where is a pool at this time frozen over. At
this spot Mr Johnson had very thoughtfully collected
supplies, in case our camp was unable to effect the pass-
age of the glacier beyond, and we took advantage of its
convenient accommodation to alight for breakfast. Cap-
tain Chapman availed himself of the opportunity to pho-
tograph the scene, and despite his difficulties with
freezing chemicals produced not the least interesting of
the many memorials of our journey which he has by
means of that process brought away. The elevation at
this spot is about 15,725 feet, and the cold most pene-
trating, though the thermometer only indicated 24° F.
The air was clear, though some clouds were floating over
the mountain tops, and an icy wind blew against our
faces with cutting force. We were, however, well pro-
tected with wraps of all sorts, and the exposed portions
of the face were anointed with a glycerine paste which
proved very useful in saving the skin from chapping.
The glare from the snow throughout the pass was almost
blinding, and it was impossible to face it with the naked
eye. We ourselves were all provided with spectacles, as
were most of our camp followers as part of their kit, but
the unfortunate Bhots were left much on a par with
their cattle to shift for themselves.

Some of them had goggles much of the same form as
ours, and very neatly made of black hair, with a hole in
the centre of the gauze opposite the pupil. The majo-
rity, however, had none, and supplied the deficiency
by whisps of hair which they plucked from the bushy
tails of their yaks, and fastened loosely across the eyes.
Onwards from Sarthang the path winds amidst sharp
rocks and moraine banks under the shadow of an im-
pending glacier whose steep slope against the hill

158 KASHMIR AND KASEGHAR.

threatens momentary destruction, and then passing into
a narrow groove between the wall of a vast glacier on one
side, and the sharp gneiss rocks strewing the base of the
hill on the other, slopes down to a spot where the glacier
presents a huge split which is occupied by a small pool
thickly frozen over.

This spot appears to be the watershed of the defile, for
the end of the glacier which here for some six miles fills its
hollow slopes away from either side of the split. Beyond
this split the path rises on the top of the glacier itself,
and for three miles or so leads over its surface. About half
way along the glacier I took the elevation under the lee,
of a great block of stone that had rolled on to it from
the heights above, and found it to be about 17,270 feet.

The passage in this part of the pass is always hazardous,
owing to the fissures and crevasses in the ice being more
or less concealed by snow. We found the glacier com-
pletely covered with a wavy coating of soft snow from
one to two feet deep. Mr Johnson, however, had
tracked out a safe but very narrow line along its border
with the aid of his Bhots and yaks.

He gave me an interesting account of the process, in
which it seems a remarkable instinct of the yak is exer-
cised more than the intelligence of his Bhot master.
Before essaying the passage of the glacier it is customary
to drive a drove of ten or twelve yaks across to ascertain
the route. These in their way sagacious animals, when
urged up the side of the glacier crowd together for a con-
sultation on its edge, and after a good deal of grunting
one of them takes the lead, the others following in single
file. The leader with his nose down on the snow sniffs and
grunts his way cautiously, and when tired falls back for
the next in the line to take up the lead, and so on, till
land is reached on the other side. The Bhots follow

INSTINCT OF THE YAK. 159

the track of their brutes, and erect little pillars of snow
here and there along the route by way of guide, in case
of mists or snow obscuring the track.

By this simple means we effected the passage in safety,
though numbers of our cattle floundered in the pitfalls
on either side the track. After packing up my baro-
meter and other instruments, I attempted to overtake
my companions who had gone on, and in passing a file
of our followers, doubled up in their wraps like a bundle
of clothes on the top of their ponies, lost the track, and
floundered into some pitfall full of loose snow on the side.
My sudden downfall created such a commotion in the
line that, when I extricated myself, I found three or four
others struggling with their cattle in the loose snow on
which they could get no firm footing.

Beyond the glacier we descended the bank of a mo-
raine, and passed beyond the snow on to the firm slope
of the hill, which led us down the gully to where the
Brangtsa huts are, on a ledge overlooking the bed of
the Shayok below. The elevation at these huts is about
14,330 feet. It was past 9 P.M. before the last of our
baggage arrived at Brangtsa, and we knew that the pas-
sage had been effected without loss or serious accident.

This most difficult of mountain passes is called Saser,
and is the Sakri pass mentioned in the Tarikhi Rasliidi.
It is a dangerous pass in summer owing to the avalanches
and rocks that crash down the slopes on either side, as
well as owing to the sudden rise of its numerous torrents
by the giving way of some obstructing barrier of rock or
ice. It is safest in the winter season, when rock and
glacier alike are riveted fast to their holds by the bonds
of hard frost. And for the successful passage by such a
party as ours on this occasion, as on that of our return
this way, we are indebted to the liberal arrangements of

i6o KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

the Kashmir authorities, and the unsparing devotion of
Mr Johnson. He had, on this occasion, provided 250
loading ponies and 60 riding ponies, and about 400 yaks,
with quite a small army of Bhot coolies for the trans-
port of our camp and supplies, and thus saved our own
cattle a very trying ordeal. And to the complete equip-
ment of our men and cattle, provided by the foresight
and judgment of the envoy, we owe it that none of us
suffered materially from the exposure in this frightful
pass, the gaunt carcases and skeletons in which stare
ominously at the traveller from every turn of the path.
Amongst them was found the body of a man supposed
to be a Yarkandi, but I heard of none of our party being
left as a relic to add one more to those so plentifully
marking the route through the pass. As it was, our
cattle came over numbed and bedraggled with icicles
which weighed down their tails and manes, and jangled
strangely to their efforts to shake them off, whilst our
hardy and patient coolies in their scanty and tattered
coverings braved everything on their sattu (barley meal) ;
aad on arrival in camp, with wonderful contentment
fortified themselves against the morning's task with re-
freshing draughts of tea, as squatted around the cheerful
blaze of their little camp fires they chased away fatigue by
merry conversation. They kept this up so long as the
limited allowance of fuel lasted, and then huddling to-
gether over the embers went to sleep, with the moonlight
sky for their covering, and the noisy murmur of the Saser
rivulet for their lullaby, in a temperature of 6° F.

At this place our camp divided. The baggage under
the escort of Mr Johnson proceeded by the direct route
over the Dipsang plateau towards Daulat Beg Uldi,
where we were to join them by the Kumdan route.
Our party consisted merely of the envoy and his officers

THE KUMDAN GLA CIERS. 1 6 1

with a light following in charge of our tents, as the
route was very correctly reported impracticable to our
camp.

Our next stage, therefore, was to Kumdan, ten miles.
We descended to the bed of the Shayok, and following
up its stream, which winds in a broad shallow channel
upon a wide bed of shingle and pebbles, for two hours,
crossing it eight or ten times en route, came to a gla-
cier lying right athwart the valley which runs in a
north-west direction. We here entered a narrow lane
between vertical walls of white marble rocks on one side
and bottle green glacier on the other, and for one hour
went up its stream, crossing from side to side in continual
succession over narrow ledges of the ice, and through the
water, by breaks in it, alternately hugging the rock, and
sliding against the smooth glacier, till finally we emerged
upon the valley beyond ; and then, going on for a mile
or so, we camped on a raised beach of shingle under a
sheer w^all of white marble, and in full sight of another
great glacier only a few hundred yards ahead.

The spot was evidently an unfrequented one, for it
was entirely free of those constant skeletons which mark
the camp stages in all this region ; whilst the shingle
was so loose that it was impossible to fix a peg in it,
and our tents were in default kept up by weighting the
ropes with big stones.

The glacier ahead of us is seen winding down a long
valley of which it fills the hollow just like a solid river,
and at its top, many miles away to the west, rises a very
remarkable peak — the most prominent in all the land-
scape. The advance of this glacier obliquely across the
valley, by closing its passage, produced that inundation of
the Indus in 1842 which proved so destructive along its
course down to Attock. The other glacier left behind us

1 62 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

crosses the valley at right angles, and must have struck
the opposite side with great force, for I noticed that the
rocks were crushed and powdered in some parts, and
had masses of the glacier still adhering to them — pro-
bably ever since their separation from the main body by
the passage forced through by the pent-up waters. It
was the projection across the valley of this glacier, and
the sudden giving way of its barrier, which produced
that inundation of the Indus in 1859 which destroyed
the Nowshera cantonment by a reflux of the waters of
the Kabul river at Attock — a catastrophe which I hap-
pened to witness from the opposite shore.

Our next stage was to Gyapthang, eight miles. The
passage of the glacier ahead is wider and easier than
that passed yesterday, and leads into a wide, shallow,
pebbly, and shingly bed, which spreads away to the north
on to an undulating plateau which it drains by several
convergent channels. The route by this way is not practic-
able in summer, owing to the sudden floods from the
melting glaciers at the head waters of the Shay ok further
on. We crossed it now several times girth deep, and with
distress to the cattle by reason of the drift ice floating
on the current bruising their limbs. At Gyapthang we
camped amidst a crowd of horse, and ass, and yak ca'r-
cases and skeletons in every stage of decay. They filled
the sheltered hollows on the river bank—hollows to which
we were driven for protection from the blighting south
wind, which swept up its wide channel with a force and
persistence that explained what the bones told us. I
here found our messman had set up his pots and pans
under the shelter of three or four carcases, and re-
monstrated with him on his carelessness in not selecting
a more suitable spot. " Where shall I find a better ? "
he replied despairingly. " The whole place is full of

EFFECTS OF RAREFIED ATMOSPHERE. 163

them." And really lie but spoke the truth, for I went
around and found no place clear of these horrid remains.
Fortunately for travellers, the air here is so dry that the
carcases do not putrefy, but simply desiccate without
poisonous odour, and thus, whatever the other hardships
of this region, they are at least saved this evil.

These remains are to be counted by the thousand on
this route, and tell of a woeful loss of life. They are
the witnesses of many years, and side by side are to be
seen the bleached hides of nobody knows when, and the
fresh carcase of but yesterday, with others in interme-
diate stages during a period of perhaps only a dozen years.

At this place we came upon the tracks of the wild
yak, and Colonel Gordon went off in quest of them, but
without success. It was at this spot that Mirza Hydar
(the author of " Tarikhi Eashidi ") parted from his com-
panion, the Prince Iskandar of Yarkand (as I have
before mentioned), and set out on his adventurous jour-
ney by unknown paths to Wakhan ; and it was on the
mountains just beyond this — probably at the headwaters
of the Shayok — that lie shot the monstrous wild yak on
which his party subsisted during the three days of their
perilous journey to the inhabited valley of Edshgum, as
he"1 so graphically describes — a valley which, under the
name of Warshgum, now has for us a peculiar interest
as the death place of the adventurous and high spirited
explorer Hay ward.

The elevation at Gyapthang is about 15,150 feet, and
its effects tell uncomfortably on both man and beast.
We had felt the disagreeable effects of a rarefied atmo-
sphere more or less all the way from the Carawal
Dawan, but here they became more pronounced, and
affected a larger number of our party. Availing myself
of Dr G. Henderson's experience on his journey across

1 64 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

this region in 1870, I had provided myself with a large
supply of the salt he found so useful, and with very
satisfactory results, as our further progress proved. I dis-
tributed little bottles of this chlorate of potash amongst
the members of the embassy, and such of the followers
as needed it, and from my own experience can testify to
its value in mitigating the distressing symptoms pro-
duced by a continued deprivation of the natural quan-
tum of oxygen in the atmosphere. The large proportion
of oxygen contained in the salt probably supplies to
the blood what in these regions it fails to derive from
the air, and thus restores through the stomach what the
lungs lose. Whatever the explanation of its action,
however, there is no doubt of its efficacy in relieving
the dreadful nausea and headache produced by the cir-
culation of an inefficiently oxygenated blood, and no
traveller ought to venture across these passes without a
supply of this simple remedy in his pocket.

From Gyapthang we marched to Daulat Beg Uldi,
fifteen miles. The route goes up the river a little way,
and then crossing a wild tract of gravelly hillocks, drops
into a tributary channel. From this it rises on to a
wide and bleak plateau, which forms the table-land of
the Caracoram range. On this plateau we camped,
under the shelter of a gravelly bank that limits the bed
of the stream which flows down from the Caracoram
pass, whose range of black gravel and shale, as the name
imports, rises in the fulness of its nudity and desolation
right before us.

As we turned away from the main stream of the
Shayok, we left behind us a magnificent panorama of
glacier scenery, but a touch of the cold wind streaming
off from it made one shiver, and think what it must be
in winter. Yet a month later this will be the route

CAMP AT DAULUT BEG ULDI. 165

preferred by the venturous traders who travel this way,
owing to the severity of the dam on the Dipsang route.
Away to the left, at about six miles off, the Shay ok is
lost in the vast field of glaciers from which it issues.
These come down in three main lines from the north-
west, west, and south-west, and unite in one great mass,
which fills the wide plain into which the river bed here
expands. They appear like rivers set solid in a coating
of purest white, and slope down for twelve or thirteen
miles from the foot of the lofty snow peaks whence
they start. And where they meet they present a vast
sea which appears as if suddenly frozen solid in the
tumultuous foam of its clashing waves ; for here the
glacier is thrown into a confusion of billowy projections
formed by the crashing of the ice under the lateral
pressure of the solid streams meeting from opposite
directions.

At Daulut Beg Uldi we were rejoined by Mr Johnson
with the main camp. He lost two of his ponies in
crossing the Dipsang plateau (our first losses), but
brought all his followers over in safety. The Dipsang
plain is the highest part of this plateau, and swells up
to the south of our position, closing the view in that
direction. We crossed it on our return journey, as I
shall have to mention in its proper place.

The elevation at Daulut Beg Uldi is about 16,000
feet. It is a singularly desolate and bleak plateau, at
this season bare of snow, but set about by low ridges
and mounds of loose shales, from 18,000 to 20,000 feet
high, on which last year's fall still lingers in thin
patches. A very destructive wind is said to blow over
this region at times. Fortunately we escaped it, and
had only to put up with the evils of a half ration of our
wonted supply of oxygen.

1 66 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Many of our party here were quite prostrated, and
appealed to me for relief. " My good man/' I said to
each as he gave way to the overpowering feeling of
careless despair, " your case is no worse than my own,
or that of a dozen others about you. Here ! Take this
salt and put a pinch of it in your mouth now and again,
and just put your head on a stone and lie still till the
bugle sounds the march." There was nothing more to
be done. Perfect rest of mind and body I found were
the best remedies, though not always attainable. Even
when quietly seated writing, I found my pen every now
and again jerked forward by an involuntary sudden
gasp to fill the chest and raise the load pressing it. And
worse, just as I was going to sleep in the hopes of for-
getting the pain that racked my head, and the nausea
that well-nigh floored me, I was started up by a sense
of immediate suffocation. A few deep but unsatisfying
gasps and a reeling giddiness brought my head on the
pillow again to doze dreamily awhile, only to start up
afresh and go through the same process over again, and so
on till the bugle bade me rise. The exertion of dressing
— a luxury I henceforward carefully denied myself till
we got down to a dressing level — well-nigh finished me,
and it was as much as I could do to mount my horse.
I ate about three drachms of chlorate of potash on the
way up, and at the crest of the Caracoram felt quite
well, and alighted to take the altitude. It was thus
that I, and many others of our party, passed this
wretched time on the plateau of the Caracoram.

I was much amused in the midst of these very un-
pleasant symptoms by the querulous grumbling of a
hardy Afghan, who allowed his sufferings to gain the
better of his self-control. He had joined our party in
Kashmir as a mule driver, and came to me here in a

THE EFFECTS OF DAM. 167

very woebegone state, complaining of his head, and
stomach, and limbs, and in fact was dissatisfied with
everybody and everything. A frame of mind excusable
under the circumstances. " I always gave you people
credit for undoubted wisdom," he said ; " but what on
earth has brought you to this God-forsaken country,
which even these mean Bhots don't care to inhabit ? "
" Come ! " I said, "you ought not to complain, for you
are accustomed to hills in your own country, and should
feel quite at home here."

"You are perfectly right, sir," he replied. "We
have hills in our country, and proper hills too, with
trees on them, by the blessing of Providence. They are
ten times higher than these miserable mounds of gravel,
and we go up and down them without the smallest dis-
comfort or trouble."

" Well, my good fellow," I interposed, "so much the
greater reason for your going up and down these small
heights without making such a fuss."

"It is not the height I complain of," he continued.
" It is the cursed air of the place. Everybody knows
it's poisoned, and what I ask you for is its remedy.
There must be something in all those bottles there
(pointing to the medicine chest) to counteract it."

I gave him some of the salt and enjoined rest, and
he went off to his place, saying, tf Yes ! I'll take this,
and, please God, it will cure me. But this dam is a
poisonous air, and rises from the ground everywhere.
If you walk ten paces it makes you sick, and if you
picket your horse on it, it spurts from the hole you
drive the peg into, and knocks you senseless at his heels.
What else can you expect of such a place ? Did not
Daulut Beg die here ? "

Daulut Beg Uldi " The Lord of the State died," is

1 68 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

the eloquent record of an interesting historical event
which singles out this spot from the broad monotonous
•waste of this lonely and inhospitable region to per-
petuate its memory by the impress of a name foreign
to the locality, and only suggestive of its character by
its expressive termination. This appears to be in accor-
dance with a predilection x>f the Yarkandis for designat-
ing the more fatal parts of the regions they occupy, by
the names of those notable personages who may have
perished on them. And thus we find isolated spots,
otherwise nameless, entitled with a designation com-
memorative alike of a close to the career of some impor-
tant individual, and of the ominous character of the
locality. Such are Rahman Uldi, Marjan Uldi, Culan
Uldi, and others.

The Daulut Beg who has given this spot its name
was the Sultan Sa'id Khan Ghazi, who acquired the
final distinctive title so honourable to Musalmans by
the Ghaza or " Crescentade " upon Tibat — in the pro-
gress of which he died — as I have before related on the
authority of the " Tarikhi Eashidi."

From that interesting and most valuable record of
the history of the Mughal Khans of Kashghar, I derive
the following brief account of this Sultan Sa'id who,
after passing the Sakri or Saser glaciers on his return
homewards, was hurried on in a moribund state across
the Dipsang plain to expire on the spot indicated by
the royal title of the Mughal Khans — a title which is
still borne by the present Capchac ruler of the country
in the Persianised form of Bedaulat. The new associa-
tions of the spot, too, are not without a mournful
interest to us ; for it was on the passage of the fatal
Dipsang plateau, from the opposite direction, that our
lamented comrade, Dr F. Stoliczka, succumbed to the

HISTORY OF SAID KHAN. 169

hardships of the elevation, and at Murghi, on its hither
side, closed too soon a life of invaluable benefit to the
cause of natural history and geology.

When Wais Khan was killed — somewhere near Isigh
Kol on the upper course of the Chui river — in action
against the troops of Mirza Ulugh Beg of Samarcand,
he left two youthful sons named Yunus and Eshaii
Bogha. They were immediately set up as rival claim-
ants of the throne by opposite factions of the nobles.
Those who adopted the cause of Yiinus, then a boy of
twelve years, took him to Ulugh Beg to enlist his favour
on his behalf, but he sent the young Mughal prince out
of the way to his father Shah Eukh at Herat, where he
was placed under the charge of a noted scholar of the
times — one Sharifuddin Ali Yazdi — to be educated.
He remained there for twelve years till the death of his
tutor, and then went to reside at Shiraz in Persia, till
his recall to his own country twelve years later.

Eshan Bogha in the meantime floated about on the
waves of anarchy till he was finally cast aside amongst
the Kirghiz and Calmac on the north-east borders of
the country. But during the period of anarchy in
Kashghar, he so repeatedly raided the Tashkand and
Farghana territories, that Abii Sa'id Mirza recalled
Yiinus from his exile, and set him to recover the
government from his brother, and reduce the divided
Mughals to order.

Yiinus found the country divided amongst a number
of rival rulers of whom he could make nothing, and
after repeated disasters, finally succeeded in establish-
ing himself at Tashkand as a protege of Samarcand,
and with only a doubtful authority in Kashghar, still
divided amongst rival chiefs.

On his death, Yunus left two sons, named Mahmud

i yo KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

and Ahmad. Mahmud succeeded his father at Tashkand,
where he had grown up in his court ; whilst Ahmad,
separating from his father, established himself on the
shores of Isigh Kol as ruler of the nomad Kirghiz, and,
by his reckless destruction of life, acquired the historical
title of Alaja, " The Slayer."

He made an unsuccessful attempt to wrest Yarkand
from Ababakar, and then went to the support of Mahmud
at Tashkand, who was hard pressed by the Uzbaks under
Shahibeg Khan or Shaiban. Both brothers, however,
were defeated, and Ahmad, retreating to Acsu, died
there that same winter, 1453-4, whilst Mahmud betook
himself to the steppes to try and secure the government
of the nomads. He failed, however, and after five years
of varying fortunes returned with his family to Tash-
kand, and sought the protection of Shaiban. But that
conqueror, considering him a source of mischief, summarily
executed him and all his family by drowning them in
the river.

Ahmad left seventeen sons, of whom Mansur was the
eldest, and with Sa'id, Khalil, Ayman and Babajac,
figured most prominently in the events of the country ;
whilst Chin Tymur, Bosun Tymur, and Tokhta Boca
and other sons joined Babur in India and disappeared
from their native land.

With this introduction we come to the career of Sul-
tan Sa'id. At the age of fourteen years he accompanied
his father when he went to the aid of Mahmud. In the
fight that ensued he was wounded in the hip, and taken
prisoner at Akhsi ; but in the following year he was
liberated, and taken by Shahibeg to Samarcand, as a
noble attached to his court. Shortly after, however,
when the Uzbak chief set out on his campaign against
Khiva, Sa'id effected his escape to Mugholistan, and
joined his uncle Mahmud, who was then at Yatakand.

HIS ESCAPE TO KABUL.

171

From this he proceeded to join his brother Khalil, who
ruled the nomad Kirghiz, and stayed with him four years.
During this period, Mahmud on one side and Mansur
on the other contested the government in the steppes
with the other two brothers. Finally, Mahmud relin-
quished the game, and retired to Tashkand to meet the
fate mentioned ; whilst Mansur, finding the field aban-
doned, drove his younger brothers out of the country,
and subjugated the Kirghiz to his own authority, trans-
porting their principal camps to Jalish and Turfan.

Khalil and Sa'id now followed in the track of their
uncle, but only arrived at Akhsi to hear of his death,
and to be themselves arrested. Khalil was summarily
executed by Jani Beg, the uncle of Shahibeg, for an
attempt to escape. Just after this Jani Beg was thrown
from his horse and injured his head, and Sa'id being at
this juncture brought before him for his orders he gave
him his freedom.

Sa'id at once collected his few followers, and disguis-
ing themselves as darveshes, students, and merchants,
set out with them from Andijan across the mountains
to Caratakin and Badakshan, where he sought shelter in
the little fort of Zafar, near the present Panja, and re-
ceived such hospitality as its owner, Mirza Khan, could
afford. For he had been deprived of the fertile valleys
to the west by the Uzbaks, and of the highlands to the
east by Ababakar, and now led an isolated existence
amongst the heretic shias of the place, struggling for the
bare necessaries of life.

After a stay of eight or ten days, Sa'id and his fifteen
companions set out in miserable plight, with barely a
blanket each to protect them from the cold, for Kabul,
and on arrival there he was well received, and taken
into service by Babur. He stayed here three years, and

172 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

on the death of Shahibeg at Marv, in action against
Shah Ismail of Persia, he accompanied Babur in his
attempt to secure Samarcand.

As soon as Babur had taken Cunduz he sent Sa'id
with some other nobles to secure Farghana, which, on
the downfall of Shahibeg, had been seized by Sayyid
Muhammad Khan, the governor appointed by Yunus.
And on arrival there, in 1510, he assumed the govern-
ment from him. On the defeat and flight of Babur from
Samarcand, Sa'id continued to hold Farghana, and in the
spring of the following year set out to visit Casim Khan
(son of Jani Beg), the chief of the nomad Cazzac, with
a view to effecting an alliance with him on terms of
equality. His efforts failed, however, and after enjoying
a brief indulgence in cumis on the free spread of his
native steppes, he returned to Farghana to wait events.
Meanwhile he repulsed an attempt made by Ababakar
to annex the province. But on the return of the Uz-
baks two years later, and the fall of Tashkand to their
hordes, Sa'id retired from Farghana to Mugholistan, and
from there, whilst the Uzbaks under Suyunjuk were
ravaging Andijan, he made a descent upon Kashghar,
where Ababakar's frightful oppression had rendered him
hated.

Sa'id drove Ababakar out of the country, and after a
campaign of three months, mounted the throne at Yar-
kand in 1513. In the ensuing winter he met his brother
Mansur at Acsu, and recognising his rights of primo-
geniture, consented to share the country with him ;
Mansur ruling over the eastern half from Acsu to Khamil
or Camol, and Sa'id over the western half up to Andijan.

In the following winter, Sa'id essayed to make good
his authority over Andijan, but on arrival at the frontier,
finding his troops unequal to the task, he diverted his
purpose to a hunting excursion on the upper course of

SHARES KASHGHAR WITH HIS BROTHER. 173

the Narin, and returned to his capital in the summer.
He next turned his attention to his southern frontier,
and set out on a campaign to convert the pagan Sarigh
Uyghur who occupied the country between Khutan and
Khita. His intemperate habits, however, frustrated his
pious resolves, and he was brought back from Khutan
in a stupid state of drunkenness, whilst his troops over-
ran the country of the pagans for two months without
ever meeting one of its inhabitants.

Following this he was called upon by the Uzbaks to
restrain the inroads of his Kirghiz upon the Tashkand
frontier, and sent his infant son Eashid with Mirza Khan
(my author) to settle these unruly nomads. He failed
to do so, and in the following year, Sa'id himself carried
an expedition up to Isigh Kol, and dispersing the Kirghiz
returned to Yarkand, leaving Eashid to hold the country.

He next, in 1518, made an expedition into Badak-
shan to support the authority of his governor, whom he
sent to hold the country as part of the possessions he
had conquered from Ababakar ; and on his return thence,
in the summer of the following year, he went to Acsu to
meet his brother Mansur, and arrange for the restoration
of the place from the state of ruin to which it had fallen
after its plunder by Ababakar ; and on this occasion
recognised Mansur in its government.

Two years after this he again went to Mugholistan to
check the inroads of his Kirghiz upon the Uzbak bor-
ders, and in the midst of his troubles and intemperance,
was seized with a fit of remorse for his misdeeds, and
proposed to abdicate in favour of Ayman, the maternal
brother of Mansur. The priests, however, interfered to
dissuade him from this purpose, so he returned to his
capital, and established Ayman in the government at
Acsu.

174 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Then, in 1523, he again made an expedition into
Badakshan to seize the country from the retiring Uz-
baks, but finding it already in the possession of one of
Babur's sons, and the passes behind him closed, he win-
tered there, and in the spring returned home re-annexing
the eastern half of the country to Kashghar " for ever."

On his return from this expedition he was once more
called to the aid of Eashid in Mugholistan, who was now
pressed by an invasion of the Calmac. When Sa'id
arrived at the Narin river he heard of the death of Suy-
unjuk in Andijan, and the confusion of the Uzbaks, so
he immediately turned off to recover Andijan. He seized
Uzkand by coup, and, the people opening its gates, he
took possession of Andijan, and annexed the province
to Kashghar.

Sa'id now returned to Kashghar to rest awhile from
his labours, and, in the interim, in 1527, sent Eashid
and Hydar on a ghaza against the Jcqfiristan of Bolor
between Badakhshan and Kashmir. The crescentaders
appear to have found the savage infidels more than a
match for them, and returned without having effected
much, though Mirza Hydar gives a most interesting
account of their customs and country.

On return from this expedition, Eashid was appointed
Governor of Acsu, and six months later Sa'id set out on
that campaign against Tibat which I have before men-
tioned.

His biographer (Hydar) says he was a mild and just
prince, and during the last years of his reign led a
strictly religious life ; and with a curious illustration of
what his idea of the import of the words are, adds
that under his rule the country flourished, and peace
reigned from Khamil to Farghana I

From Daulat Beg Uldi we marched to Brangtsa,

THE CARACORAM PASS. 175

twenty-two miles. The track goes north-west up the
course of the stream we camped on, and along the base
of the Caracoram range, over a loose soil of gravel and
earth up to the pass, which we reached in three hours.
The rise is gentle except at the pass itself, where it is
sudden and steep, but short both in the ascent and
descent. At the foot of the pass, on the hither side, is a
saddle-shaped watershed across the valley, which divides
two tributaries of the Shay ok ; that to the east drains
Daulat Beg plateau, and that to the west joins the mass
of glacier we passed yesterday on quitting Gyapthang.

The elevation of the pass is about 18,300 feet, and
affected our men and cattle severely. Several of the
former tumbled off their ponies from the giddiness pro-
duced, and some fainted. My own servant fell three
times, and the hospital dresser was carried over insen-
sible, but they recovered themselves on reaching the
lower ground on the other side. Two of our baggage
ponies died on the pass, and two others soon after reach-
ing camp. Previous to leaving Leh all the loads had
been weighed and reduced to an uniform scale of 160
pounds for each animal ; this had been wisely fixed as
the limit of their burthen, and the drivers were mounted
on other cattle.

Even with these light loads our hired cattle laboured
greatly and moved slowly ; and the mules of our fixed
establishment, though led over unladen, suffered from
the cold and elevation. My own horse, a strong Kabul
galloway, though choosing his own pace, showed signs
of great distress. His whole body shook under me from
the violent action of his heart, and he swayed so un-
steadily from side to side, that near the top I dismounted
through fear that he would roll down the hill with me.

On the other side of the pass we went down a loose

176 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

shingly drainage gully similar to that on the south, and
camped at the Brangtsa stage, which is merely a collec-
tion of stone walls like the enclosures and huts called
Polu on the other side of the Saser pass. As at the
other camp grounds on this high land, the surface here
was encumbered with carcases and skeletons of beasts of
burthen ; and on the way down we passed the bodies of
two men. The head of one of them was brought to me,
but I found it in too recent a state for preservation.

The Caracoram range is here the true watershed be-
tween the affluents of the Tarim on the north and the
Indus on the south, and on each side is supported by a
table-land of swelling plateaux of very similar character
as to elevation, soil, and blank desolation.

Our tents did not come in till six P.M., and were put
up with the aid of our invaluable Bhot coolies in a fast
fall of snow, which commenced soon after we reached the
ground.

Next day we marched to Actagh — twenty-five miles.
The route leads down the wide shingly bed of the Actagh
river, a tributary, or rather one of the sources of the
Yarkand river. It drains the broad undulating slopes
that spread away to mountain ridges on either side, and
at Actagh, which is merely a stage at the foot of a cliff
of white clay, forms a single stream.

We set out at 9 A.M. as the snow ceased to fall, and
found the inequalities of the country and its wide sweeps
of plateaux, which we saw to advantage on the return
journey, were wonderfully concealed by the bright glare
of the fresh coat of snow that covered the surface.
About half-way we alighted for breakfast at the Wahab-
jilga stage, where supplies had been laid down for us in
case we camped here ; but owing to the inclement
weather, it was decided to push on and get out of this

THE KANJUD ROBBERS. 177

inhospitable region as quickly as possible ; so whilst we
rested under the shelter of the walled enclosures here,
the baggage pushed on to the next stage. It was 9 P.M.,
however, before the last of our baggage reached the
ground.

At Wahabjilga the river passes through a narrow pas-
sage in an outcrop of slate rocks, between approximating
ridges which here contract its valley, and then again
flows through a wide shallow channel as before. At this
place we found several of the " black horned " larks seek-
ing the shelter of the walls, and started a hare which had
sought protection under one of the stones lying about.
And a little further on, as we resumed our route, Mi-
Johnson shot an antelope loitering on the flank of our
column.

On approaching camp we were met on the road by
our comrades of the advance party, who had come to join
the envoy here, whilst Captain Biddulph went on to ex-
plore the sources of the Caracash river, prior to joining
us at Shahidulla.

Captain Trotter and Dr Stoliczka were so metamor-
phosed in their travelling wraps that we did not at first
sight recognise them, and, as they were unexpected, were
puzzled to know who the two horsemen appearing from
behind a projecting bank, and advancing so boldly upon
us from the opposite direction could be, till the welcome
voices of their greeting assured us without doubt of their
identity, and removed even the semblance of veracity from
the circumstantial statements of the Srinaggar gossips,
who had indicated this very spot as the scene of our dis-
comfiture at the hands of the banditti of Kanjud, whose
natural propensities, according to those " gobemouches,"
had been stimulated against us by the bribe of a sum
large enough to buy their whole country.

M

178 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Our own disguise must have proved no less strange to
our friends, or their inquiry addressed in Hindustani to
a passer-by would not have elicited from the camp ser-
geant, " I am not a native, sir. They are all coming
down the road."

We were well met, however, and glad to find that
our worthy comrade, and since lamented friend, had
recovered from the extremity of his sufferings on the
Dipsang highland. We compared notes of our respec-
tive experiences, and congratulated each other on our
robust appearance and ruddy complexion — an unnatur-
ally heightened colour suffused with a tinge of darkness
entirely foreign to the healthy glow, which for me had
its own meaning, and told of the combined effects of cold
and rarefied air. The elevation at Actagh is about
14,450 feet, and a minimum thermometer placed in the
open air, Captain Trotter told me, registered a tempera-
ture of 24° F. below zero, or 56 degrees of frost. And
another minimum thermometer, set under the shelter of
the verandah of my tent, registered on the night of our
arrival 9° F., and on the following night 15° F. below zero.

At this place, whilst standing round the camp fire on
the morning of our departure, a little landrail appeared
at our feet struggling with unsteady gait to reach the
embers, whose glow had drawn it from its hiding amongst
the stones around. The luckless little wanderer was
caught up by Dr Stoliczka at the very edge of the fire,
and preserved from self-immolation on this lonesome spot,
to adorn with the rest of the natural history collection of
this embassy the shelves of the Calcutta museum.

We halted a day at Actagh with a light camp only,
intending to double up the next two stages into one,
whilst the baggage and main camp went on by the
regular marches. The prophesied Kanjudis belied the

FROZEN SNIPE ON THE WILLOW PASS. 179

Srinaggar tattlers, and gave us a time of undisturbed rest,
and in fact, were nowhere to be heard of in the neigh-
hood. We resumed the route next day and found a
change of horses at the Chibra camp-ground, whence our
baggage, with the exception of a few broken-down
cattle, had gone on in the morning. We alighted here
for breakfast in a little boulder-strewed hollow, the
rough surface of which was encumbered with gaunt
skeletons and broken carcases tossed about in spectre-
like forms.

The elevation here is about 16,650 feet, and the spot
one of the most inhospitable on the broad waste of this
fearful table-land. The whole route from Actagh was
marked at almost every step by the remains of perished
cattle, and what with the cold and the dam was one of
our most trying marches. And I blessed the envoy's
sound judgment which saved us a night of misery on
this dismal spot.

Beyond Chibra a little way we entered the snow again
—we had left it behind us half way between Wahabjilga
and Actagh — and passing up an easy gully very gradu-
ally rose to the crest of the Sugat Dawan or " Willow
Pass " (though there is not a bush of the kind or any
other within miles of the place), which is about 17,500
feet high. On the way to the pass I picked up a snipe
on the snow, and in the gully on the other side another.
They were frozen hard as stone in a sitting posture, and
th e congealed humours of the eyes looked like pearls. The
descent was steep, first over deep snow and then over
broken slate, into a ravine winding between banks of black
shale. From this the pass led over some high moraine
banks of granite boulders, and crossing the slope of an
ash grey schistone hill led down to the bank of the
Sugat river, where we camped in a brushwood of willo\v

i So KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

and tamarisk a few miles above its junction with the
Caracash river — distance thirty miles.

It was here that an amusing adventure introduced me
for the first time to our Yarkand allies, of whom we
saw so much during our stay in the country. I had
lingered at the pass with my instruments, and got belated
a mile or two above camp. In the obscurity I missed
the track, and got amongst the boulders of the river.
My horse stumbled over one of them, and was brought
up by his nose upon another, so I dismounted and bid the
groom who was with me do likewise and go seek the path.

Meanwhile I called for a response from the camp by a
succession of shouts, but all to no purpose with the noisy
brawl of the torrent alongside, till my messenger returning
reported no trace of a path, though he had discovered a
camp fire a little way down the stream. We accordingly
made for it, and after a most awkward progress amongst
the boulders — whose broad white rotundities shon'e with
a deceptive clearness in the obscurity around, now seeming
close under foot, and leading to a plunge two or three feet
down, and again seeming as far off, and producing un-
looked for jars between chin and knee — came abreast of
it on the opposite side of the river. The flickering
flames lighted up a perpendicular rock above them, but
revealed no sight of tent or man, and all my shouting
produced no answering call. So we plodded on our
weary way, tumbling here and saving a tumble there,
till we emerged on a turfy beach. On this we regained
the track, and were going along merrily amongst the tufts
of reeds and patches of j an gal, when four horsemen sud-
denly advanced out of another patch ahead, and were
immediately upon us in the narrow path.

" Have you seen our camp ahead ? And is this the
way to it ? " I asked in Hindustani, on the chance of

MEET OUR Y ARK AND ALLIES. 181

their being some of our people looking for stray baggage.
In reply I got a deal of very voluble Turki from all of
them at once. What it all meant I have not the least
idea, but I caught the words " Doctor Sahib," and at once
said, " I'm the Doctor Sahib ; shew me the way to camp."

They held a consultation together, which I interrupted
in Hindustani, Persian, and Pushto, assuring them of
my identity ; but to no purpose ; they whipped their
horses, and shuffled past, muttering some unintelligible
jargon amongst themselves.

The rencontre with these strangers had not enlightened
me a whit as to the whereabouts of camp, and I saw them
going away from the object of their search, so I mustered
what Turki I could at the moment collect and threw it after
them. The words had a magic effect, the men at once
returned, jumped off their horses, brought one forward
for me to mount, and excused their not recognising me
in the darkness.

My stock of Turki was already exhausted, so I fell
back upon Persian, and found two of them understood
it well, though the mixture of tongues from me at first
quite puzzled them. They now produced a torch to light
the way, and as they could not blow it into a flame from
their tinder, I assisted them with a lucifer. And thus
assured that they really had got the " Doctor Sahib/' a
point on which the tie of my turban seemed to afflict
them with a doubt, we all mounted our horses, and set
off afresh. On the way I learned that they had come
from Shahidulla to welcome the envoy in the name of
Atalik Ghazi to Yarkand territory, and having paid
their respects to him on arrival in camp, had been sent
by him to look for me ; and under their guidance I soon
found myself at the mess tent in the midst of our own
party, when the envoy formally introduced me to

182 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Yuzbashi Zarif and Yuzbashi Bahauddin. Ibrahim
Khan of the police, who had been sent on in advance
from India, here joined the camp to pay his respects
and make his report to the envoy. The camp halted
next day (16th October), and then went the following
morning to Shahidulla, where Captain Trotter and Dr
Stoliczka and I rejoined it on the 18th October with
Captain Biddulph, whom we met in the Caracash valley
on our detour to visit the jade quarries at Balikchi.
The elevation of Shahidulla is about 11,200 feet.

These jade quarries are situated at the base of the
Kuenlun range, which here forms the right or north bank
of the Caracash river, and are about twelve miles up the
stream from Shahidulla. The excavations extend over
several small knolls or spurs projecting from the foot of
a high range of gneiss rocks, and are all superficial.
The spurs are covered with a loose gravelly detritus,
beneath which is concealed the rock in which the prized
mineral forms veins of very varying thickness, colour,
and quality. The diggings are marked by heaps of
refuse about them, but show no traces of anything more
than superficial excavation. And in the deeper of these
the floor was blocked with masses fallen from the roof
and sides. The quarries have been abandoned since the
overthrow of the Chinese rule over Kashghar in 1863.

At Balikchi we came upon a herd of six or seven kyang
or culdn (wild horse) feeding on the opposite side of the
river, and crossed it to stalk them, but they made off be-
fore we could get within range. The Caracash valley has
abundance of pasture and brushwood, and in its natural
vegetation resembles that of Nubra, but it is uncultivated,
and uninhabited, except by Kirghiz camps in the pasture
season. Its river is a considerable stream, but fordable
on a pebbly bottom at most parts during this season.

CHAPTER VI.

THE envoy halted some days at Shahidulla to await the
arrival of Sayyid Ya'ciib Khan who, with his following,
was being rapidly transported through Kashmir to over-
take us, as it was an important point with him that our
party should enter the country under his guidance.

In the meantime the two Yuzbashis and Mirza Ya'ciib,
the latter an umara or " commandant/' attached to the
court of Atalik Ghazi, who had been sent here by the
Dadkh wah of Yarkand to meet and welcome us, acquitted
themselves of their duty graciously, and dispensed such
hospitality as the isolated position, and empty condition of
the locality admitted of. That national institute the das-
turkhwan or " tray of ceremony " (and metaphorically
the " table-cloth," only that it is always spread on the
floor), was of course the most important of the tokens
of welcome, and consequently our appointed hosts every
day, just before the afternoon prayers, appeared at the
envoy's tent with their array of trays, and invited us to
partake of the hospitality provided.

And we on our part, appreciating the friendly atten-
tion, did our duty with a grace which the delicious flavour
of the melons, and the welcome sight of the barley sugar
"cossacques" with Russian mottoes, rendered easy, de-
spite the uninviting appearance of the hard used trays,
and their worse treated contents. The former were the
common tea trays of our own country, and by their
scanty remnants of lacquer, and abundant bruises and

1 84 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

wounds spoke of a long and rough service in the cause
of state hospitality. The latter comprised a variety of
fruits and sweets which, from the appearance of most of
them, had evidently been neglected, and condemned to
pass alternately from the saddle bag to the tray, and from
the tray to the saddle bag, without even tempting a
hungry guest to bestow his favour upon them. Such were
the uncracked walnuts and pistachias, the musty jujubes
and elosagnus berries, the dried prunes and the drier
raisins, and, as an exception, the little green and grain-
less raisins, and the sweet almonds mixed amongst them.
Such, too, were the various home confections of sugar—
the curled "dogs' tails," the porous "sugar bubbles/'
and the sugar-encrusted almonds, &c. which in their
battered state showed proofs of the rough journey they
had made to figure before us here, whilst the rock
candy, preserved in its neat deal box, stood amongst
them proudly in the decoration of its Eussian trade
marks and addresses.

Eound a spread of dainties such as these we daily
seated ourselves on the carpet, and with the bismillah of
our hosts approved the melons and, under cover of
commonplace conversation, cautiously tested the merits
of the other candidates for favour, till the allahu akbar
released us from further risk of indigestion.

Here, as the rest of our stay amongst them more fully
confirmed, we found that our Andijani or Khocandi
hosts were complete strangers to the country they had
taken, and knew less of its topography and people as a
wThole than we ourselves did. Yet the boldness with
which they singly, or in twos and threes, went about it
on the service of Atalik Ghazi, proved the thorough hold
they had of it, and the dread inspired by the name of
their master amongst the timid and unarmed peasantry.

VISIT TO THE SHRINE. 185

Shahidulla Khoja, which gives its name to the locality,
is a sacred shrine on the top of a bluff which here pro-
jects into the close basin formed by the junction of the
Sugat and Kirghiz-jangal (on which our camp was
.pitched close above the junction) streams with the Cara-
cash river, at the point where it turns round the western
end of the Kuenlun range. It is a mere pile of stones,
and horns of wild sheep and antelopes, &c. upon the
grave of some fugitive Khoja from Yarkand, who was
killed here by his Khitay pursuers at the time the
Chinese conquered the country, a century or so ago.
Though his name is lost to them, his memory is vene-
rated by the Kirghiz nomads of the locality, who have
marked the consecrated spot by a small forest of bare
poles topped with tassels of wool and bushy tufts of the
yak's tail.

Musalman travellers passing this way toil up the
slope to repeat a blessing over his tomb, and invoke the
nameless martyr's intercession for God's protection on
their onward journey. The appearance of this shrine,
so like those of their own country, was hailed with de-
light by our Guides escort, who had not seen so familiar
an object since they had left their homes on the Pesha-
war frontier, and they trooped up to do their favourite
ziarat without the least knowledge of who the object of
their blessing was, or how he came to sanctify this
lonely spot on the mountains with his martyr blood.
It was enough for them to know that the name indicated
the spot marked by their revered emblems as the resting-
place of a "witness to the faith," and they incontinently
went to perform their pious devoirs.

On the boulder beach under this bluff is a small stone
fort named after the locality. It was erected as a pre-
cautionary measure by the Ladakh wazir of the Kashmir

1 86 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

government during the disorders convulsing Kasligliar
on the overthrow of the Chinese rule there, and was held
by a small detachment of his troops for a couple of years,
when, on the establishment of the authority of Atalik
Ghazi, it was abandoned and taken possession of by the
new rulers of the country. It now has a garrison of about
twenty-five men to protect the road, and control the Kirghiz
of the neighbourhood, and draws its supplies from Sanju.

The Kirghiz on this frontier of Kashghar territory
are reckoned at three hundred tents spread in different
camps amongst the ravines, and gullies, and river courses
from Kokyar on the west to Sarighyar on the east.
They own a few camels and horses, but their principal
wealth consists in their yaks, or cutds as they call
them, which they employ in transporting caravans over
the passes of Sanju Dawan, Kilyan Dawan, and Yangi
Dawan, which are more or less impracticable to ordi-
nary cattle.

We saw something of these free and independent
gentry during our stay at Shahidulla, and here gained our
first experience of life in their acoe or "white house" tents,
which were of any colour but that designated by the name,
and as battered and worn as one might expect in such a
place, if not in such a season. And we were provided by
them with such supplies as we required, in a manner which
— whilst contrasting markedly with our good fare across
the absolutely desert region we had come over — showed
the poverty of the country, and testified to the unsparing
exertions which had been made on our behalf by the Kash-
mir authorities. We had heard so much on our journey of
the eight hundred baggage horses awaiting us at Shahi-
dulla, and of the grand officials who were to welcome us on
our arrival there with the delicacies and luxuries which
express couriers were daily hurrying from the capital to

DEPARTURE FROM SHAHIDULLA. 187

the frontier, that our expectations had risen far above
the mark of our experience, though the reception in its
simplicity was none the less friendly and appreciated.

On the 21st October, owing to the scarcity of provisions,
a portion of the camp under Colonel Gordon, accom-
panied by Captains Biddulph and Trotter and Dr Sto-
liczka, set out for Sanju under the conduct of Yuzbashi
Bahauddin, and Kozi Bai the chief of the Kirghiz here ;
and on the following day Muhammad Amin, one of
Sayyid Ya'ciib Khan's servants, who had accompanied
him to India, and returned thence to Kashghar during
the summer, arrived in camp with a number of horses
for the carriage of his master's and our own camp. He
confirmed the intelligence we had before received of the
construction of a new set of quarters for the accommoda-
tion of the embassy at both Kargalik and Yarkand.

At the close of the next day Sayyid Ya'cub Khan — or
Haji Tora as he is called by his own people — himself
arrived in camp, and was received by the envoy attended
by Captain Chapman and myself. He dined with us in
the evening, and was accommodated in one of our tents,
as his own camp had not come in. He is a well-informed
native of Tashkand, and, during a residence of four
years at the Turkish capital, has acquired more enlarged
ideas on the civilisation of Europe than is possessed by
most of his people in Central Asia, and with all displays
a freedom from prejudice which is the lot of very few of
his countrymen and co-religionists.

He left Constantinople on the 14th August, and by
steamer, rail, and road, via Egypt and Bombay to
Lahore and Murree, accomplished the distance up to the
frontier of his own country in seventy days including
halts. As he well might, he expressed a proper astonish-
ment at the feat he had been able to accomplish by the
means of travel common to civilised countries, and,

1 83 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

whilst gratefully acknowledging the favour of the
British, and the services of the Kashmir government,
and the attentions of Captain Molloy who accompanied
him as far as Nubra, in forwarding his rapid progress
across the mountains, sighed for the organisation and
civilisation he had left behind him, and begged us to
bear patiently with the poverty and barbarity of the
country he was about to conduct us into.

He gave us some very useful hints, which the en-
voy subsequently acted upon with the best results for
the welfare of our own party, and the honour of the
British name. His following comprised a number of
European Turks, and amongst them four military
officers and a civilian who rode in his suite.

Next morning, the 24th October, we bid adieu to our
very good friends Mr W. Johnson, the governor of
Ladakh, and Mehta Sher Sing, the governor of Islam-
abad, who had been appointed by the Maharaja to
conduct our party to the frontier. How they carried
out the task confided to their charge the previous pages
will have indicated, and of the appreciation of their ser-
vices by the Indian Government they themselves have
had handsome proof. For us it only remains to acknow-
ledge with gratitude the many favours received, and
none the least that unceasing solicitude which smoothed
our path across the highest and most difficult mountains
in the world, and even on the desert amply supplied our
every want. Here, too, we parted with that little army
of Bhot coolies whose willing service and cheerful docility
had made them fast allies of our camp followers, though
we took on some forty or fifty of them, to help us down
to the plains on the other side ; and with them we changed
our carriage for such as could be provided by the Kash-
ghar officials to supplement our own mule establishment*

ROUTE DOWN THE CARACASH VALLEY. 189

This last liad hitherto been spared to meet contingencies,
and now faced the task before it in a state of efficiency
which could not have been expected had its drivers and
mules been burthened with the toils of the march from
Leh.

To convey some idea of what they were spared, and
to show the nature of the assistance rendered by the
Kashmir authorities in the progress of our embassy from
Murree to Shahidulla, I may here mention the total
number of the cattle and coolies supplied for our ser-
vice on this route as I got them from the officials.
There were altogether 1621 horses and yaks employed,
and 6476 coolies of whom 1236 were dooly bearers.
These men and cattle were distributed over the different
stages, and kept for about two months on this duty,
until the arrival and passage from Murree of Haji Tora
and his suite. The average number for each stage from
Murree to Srinaggar was forty-two cattle and ninety-
two men ; from that on to Leh they were 54 and 324
respectively; on to Murgi 135 and 140; and on to
Shahidulla 145 and 140.

Our camp going ahead, we set out from Shahidulla a
little before noon with Haji Tora and his suite, and
marched to Pillataghach, fourteen miles. The route led
down the Caracash river through a narrow winding valley
by a very rough and stony track, and across a succession
of gullies and moraines which interrupt the line of its left
bank between small brushwood patches of the myricaria,
hipophoe, hololachne, ephedra, clematis, &c. amongst
which is interposed a tufty growth of tall reed grass.

We soon discovered that neither Kashmiri nor Bhot
coolies had been here to mark out the line of road, or to
sweep its surface clear of obstructions, and on arrival
in camp our farriers had a busy time of it in replacing,

1 9o KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

from the store of spare ones provided, the shoes cast on the
road. At three hours we crossed the Toghra Su, a brisk
torrent which, as the name "Straight Kiver" implies,
comes down a long straight glen on our left. During
summer its passage is difficult, owing to the floods fed by
the snow peaks at the top of its valley, and sometimes
it is altogether impassable. There is an alternative
route up the course of the stream to the Kulik pass,
which is reached on the third day. It is described as
very difficult, and like those of Kilian and Sanju on the
same range, must be crossed on yaks to be obtained from
the Kirghiz in the vicinity. On the farther side it joins
the road from Kilian to Yarkand.

At an hour beyond the Toghra Su we came to Cor-
ghan or " Fort." It is a solitary mud cabin enclosed
within loopholed walls, and stands on the roadside under
the lee of a detached rock which lies in the angle of
junction of the Kilian river with the Caracash, and on
the top of which are the traces of an ancient castle.
Across the road in front of it are some small fields of
corn cultivation, and on their border we found a scare-
crow formed of the head and fore-quarters of a horse
stuck on a pole — an ominous warning to the traveller by
this route.

A little beyond we crossed the Kilian Su which
comes down a deep glen on the left. There is a summer
route by this way to Yarkand. The Kilian Pass is, we
were told, crossed on the third day, and on the other
side is Khitay Tain, a former Chinese outpost. It is at
the head of the valley leading down to Kilian. There
are fifty or sixty houses of the Wakhi there. They
came from Pamir and Wakhan originally, and are said
to have been settled there since forty years ago. They

THE SHRINE OF ABABAKAR. 191

are Shia Musalmans, and speak their own Wakhi dialect
and Persian, and do not intermix with the Kirghiz.

Another hour brought us to our camp ground amidst
the jangal on the river bank, in a small hill-locked
hollow. On the march we started what was thought to
be a levret, but on capture amongst the loose stones in
whose interspaces it sought shelter, we found it to be a
rat of the lycomis species.

Our next march was to a spot called Caracoram — ten
miles. At an hour and a half out of camp we came to
a bend of the river round a projecting bluff, and crossed
and recrossed it to regain the track beyond. The pas-
sage was difficult, and delayed by several of our cattle
falling under their loads, and requiring no small exertion
to save them from drowning. The current was running
strong over a rough boulder bed, and carried a deal of
floating ice, which added to the difficulty of our cattle
keeping their footing, and in many instances upset them
to their confusion. Our drivers and Bhot coolies had a
hard time of it in the water in extricating their charges
from the peril of their situation.

In summer this passage is frequently impracticable,
owing to the flooded stream. It then becomes necessary
to carry the loads by coolies over the bluff itself, and
swim the cattle round, as the path is too steep and in-
secure for them. About a mile lower down the road
quits the Caracash valley, and turns up a narrow glen to
the left, just beyond the Mazar Mirza Ababakar.

This is a small collection of humble graves of the
Kirghiz of the vicinity clustered round a more pre-
tentious tomb, built like them of the clay and stones
of the locality. The Mazar, or "shrine," is decorated
with sheep's horns and yak tails stuck on the top of
poles set up around the tomb, and is venerated by the

i92 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Kirghiz in memory of the prince who perished here as
a fugitive amongst their camps.

The "Tarikhi Bashidi" contains a very interesting his-
tory of this successful usurper, and most savage of tyrants
— whose name, execrated on the throne, is revered in the
grave. Before proceeding to notice the principal events
in the career of this remarkable ruler of Kashghar in
bygone days, we may here advantageously introduce by
way of preface a short account of his ancestors, and
cotemporaries on the theatre of his exploits, as derived
from the work above mentioned, since it will serve to
indicate how largely this country shared in the revolu-
tions and anarchies of its neighbours on the west, and
explain how its relations with those principalities, con-
tinued down to our day, have led to its conquest from
that direction.

The Amir Khudadad, whom I have before mentioned
as precipitating the downfall of the Mughal Khans by
the surrender of the country ruled by Wais Khan to
Mirza Ulugh Beg of Samarcand, was the most noted of
the five sons of the Amir Bolaji of Acsu, who rescued
the youthful Toghluc Tymur, the heir of Eshan Bogha
(not the brother of Yunus of the same name), and grand-
son of Dawa Khan, from his exile amongst the Calmac
of Ila or Zunghar, and, establishing him on the throne
of his ancestors as Khan of Mugholistan, in his person
restored the rule of the Chaghtay in its native seat.

At the age of seven years, Khudadad, on the death of
his brother Tolak, was appointed his successor in the
government of Kashghar by Bolaji, who, on the part of
Toghluc Tymur, administered the government from Acsu
and Kucha to Uzkand and Andijan, including Khutan
and Yarkand on the south, and Atbashi and Kasan on
the north. And he held the post during the campaigns

REVOLT OF THE KIRGHIZ. 193

of Togliluc Tymur in Mawaranahar against the rising con-
queror Tymur Lang. During the revolution following
upon the death of Toghluc, the Kirghiz on the Upper
Narin, and shores of Isigh Kol, revolted under the lead
of their governor, the Amir Camaruddin, who was the
brother of Khudadad. His first act on usurping the
government was the cold-blooded murder of all the royal
family, except only the infant Khizr Khoja, who, with his
mother and a few trusty servants, had been rescued by
Khudadad, and sent off to the security of the Badakhshan
fastnesses. The incursions of Camaruddin, and his law-
less nomads, on the Tashkand territories brought no less
than four successive campaigns against his Jatta subjects
by the armies of Tymur. In the last of these Cama-
ruddin, who is described as of such enormous size that
a child of seven years could stand in one of his boots,
perished, and Khudadad, who had during this period
kept together the government of the cities of Acsu,
Kashghar, Yarkand, and Khutan, now recalled Khizr
from his hiding amongst the shepherds of Lob, whither
he had been carried from place to place out of reach of
the pursuers tracking him on the part of Camaruddin,
and set him on the throne at Kashghar under his own
guidance as minister.

Under his reign, Khudadad was witness of that final
campaign by Tymur which devastated the whole country
up to the green pastures of Yulduz, and carried away its
population to be scattered over the steppes of Mawarana-
har, Irac, and Khorasan. Khizr, on his death, was suc-
ceeded by his son Muhammad Khan, the dates of whose
birth and death are lost in the troubles of the times, and of
whose history little more is known than that he was a co-
temporary of Ulugh Beg in Mawaranahar, and a bigoted
Muslim, zealous in the propagation of the faith amongst

N

i94 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

his subjects, so habitually prone to lapse into their former
idolatry. He, as the "Tarikhi Kashidi" mentions, con-
verted the ancient Hindu temple (resembling in the
massive blocks of its stone the temples of Kashmir) called
Tash Eabat, on the pass to the Chadir Kol, into a for-
tified post, to protect his capital from the incursions of
the Kirghiz.

His son, Sher Muhammad, succeeded to the throne,
and, even under the wise administration of his maturely
experienced minister, found but a life of trouble. His
nephew, Wais Khan, rebelled, and with a band of ad-
venturers led a Eobin Hood sort of life in different parts
of the country ; whilst Ulugh Beg on the west, having
annexed Andijan, was striving for the acquisition piece-
meal of Kashghar also.

It was during these assaults upon the frontier that
the Amir Khudadad, leaving his son Sayyid Ahmad,
who was afflicted with deafness, and an impediment in his
speech which rendered him almost unintelligible, in the
government of Kashghar, accompanied the camp of the
Khan to settle affairs, and protect the border on the
northern steppes. During his absence, Khoja Sharif, one
of the city magnates, ousted Sayyid Ahmad, and tendered
a surrender of the city to Ulugh Beg. On the arrival
of the latter' s officers from Andijan, the deposed Sayyid
Ahmad retired with his family, and joined his father in
Mugholistan. He died there shortly afterwards, and
left a son named Sayyid AH, who now became the
favourite of his aged grandfather. He was a fine youth,
tall, strong, and bold, and without a peer amongst his
fellows in intelligence, and proficiency in field sports.

Whilst here Khudadad received as a refugee a prince
of the Tymur family named Mirza Ahmad, who with his
sister had fled from the hostility of Shahrukh, the sove-

CAREER OF SAYYID ALL 195

reign of Herat. Sayyid All fell in love with the prin-
cess, and on a promise of marriage when their fortunes
mended accompanied the returning refugees on their
way homeward. On arrival at Andijan, however, the
whole family was seized by orders of Ulugh Beg, who
forthwith executed Ahmad, married his sister, and cast
Ali into prison at Samarcand.

A year later, when Ulugh was going to visit his father
at Herat, he released Sayyid Ali, and took him in his
suite to show Shahrukh a specimen of the sort of men
he had to deal with on the frontier. On the march,
however, he was so alarmed at the dangerous equipment
of his Mughol captive, and had such uneasy doubts lest
one of his arrows, the length of which was sixteen palms,
should find its way through his own body, that he sent
him back from Carshi with secret orders to the jailer at
Samarcand to kill him on arrival.

But Sayyid Ali, suspecting the fate reserved for him,
effected his escape on the road, and in the guise of a dar-
vesh returned to his grandfather in Mugholistan. Here
Khudadad, fearful of the revenge of his pursuers, sent
him out of the way to join the robber band of Wais
Khan, who was at this time in retreat amongst the Cal-
mac of Lob and Katak. He was well received by Wais,
who gave him his sister Oron Nishin to wife ; and, as the
historian records, Sayyid Ali brought down two stags
with his bow for the wedding feast.

From these grounds Wais and his band shifted their
camps to Turkistan, at the opposite extreme of the ter-
ritory. The ruler here was Shekh Nuruddin, son of
Sarbogha the Capchac. He was at enmity with Sher
Muhammad, and therefore welcomed his rebellious
nephew, and, by way of cementing an alliance, gave
his sister Sikanj Khanim in marriage to Wais.

196 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

The uncle and nephew were here continually at war,
till, on the death of the former, the other succeeded to
the government. His rule, however, was one of such
utter discord, and the Tymuris were getting such a fast
supremacy in his country, that Khudadad, now arrived
at the ripe age of four score and ten years, disgusted at
the obstinacy of Wais, invited Ulugh to take possession
of the country. He met the venerable Amir on the
upper course of the Chui, and taking him back with him
to Samarcand gave him an honourable escort thence to
Mecca. From this, having closed a beneficent and un-
usually long career with the pious duties so dear to the
Muslim, Khudadad went on to Medina, and dying
there, was buried in the sacred precincts of the Khalif
Uthman's sepulchre.

On this occasion of Ulugh Beg's visit to the Mughol
country, Wais Khan and his nomads dispersed into the
trackless steppes ; but on his departure they returned to
renew their wonted excursions on the Andijan frontier.
This led to the despatch of an army from Samarcand
against them, and to the death of Wais in one of the first
actions with the enemy. He left two sons, Yunus and
Eshan Bogha, whose history I have before alluded to.

Amongst the nobles who supported the claims of
Eshan Bogha to the succession was Amir Sayyid Ali,
who, on the succession of Wais to the throne, had been
granted the government of Khutan, in reward for his
services in the wars he waged against the Calmac. He
now, on the establishment of Eshan Bogha as Khan, got
permission to recover the government of his ancestors,
which, during the fourteen years since the expulsion of
his father Sayyid Ahmad from Kashghar, had been held
by the Doghlat officers appointed from Samarcand, so
far as concerned Kashghar and Andijan, whilst the cities

RE CO VERS GO VERNMENT OF KASHGHAR. 197

of Turfan and Acsu had fallen into the hands of his
brothers and nephews.

He first seized Acsu — held by two of his brothers whom
he killed — and then attacked Kashghar, but was repulsed.
He returned to the assault the next harvest with a like
result, and on the third attempt took the city. He now
brought Eshan Bogha down from the steppes, and set
him on the throne at Acsu, and himself administered the
government as successor to Amir Khudadad.

The Mughol nobles, displeased at this arrangement,
dispersed to pursue their own designs, and anarchy soon
spread all over the country. Meantime Eshan Bogha
invaded Andijan and seized its fort, but was bought off
by Samarcand. His incursions on this frontier were so
frequent now, that Abu Sa'id Mirza, the successor of
Shahrukh in Khorasan, sent his brother Yunus to take the
country from him.

When Yunus arrived in Mugholistan in 1455 with his
Khorasan contingent, he was joined by some of the border
nomads, and advanced against Kashghar, which was held
by the now aged Amir Say y id Ali. Eshan Bogha, who
was at the time with his Jatta nomads in the Yulduz
valley, at once hurried to his assistance, and the invaders
were repulsed with loss. Yunus was now deserted by all
his following, and returned to Abu Sa'id in a state of
penury, attended only by a single Calmac who was faith-
ful to the last, and consented to become a slave that his
empty-handed master might approach the king with
him as a present.

Abu Sa'id afterwards discovered this, and liberating
the trusty Calmac, sent him to join his master, whom he
had once more established on the Tashkand frontier to
watch his opportunity for a renewal of the effort to re-
cover the throne of Kashghar.

198 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Yunus remained at Banikand till the death of Sayyid
Ali in 1457, when he again advanced into Mugholistan,
and established himself there till opportunity should
present for making a descent upon its capital. Sayyid
Ali had left two sons — namely, Saniz Mirza by a Jaras
wife, and Hydar Mirza by Oron Mshin, the aunt of
Yunus.

According to Mughol • custom Saniz, the eldest, suc-
ceeded to his father's office. He transferred his residence
to Yarkand, and provided for his brother by giving him
the government of Kashghar and Yangi Hissar. Hydar
was married to a daughter of Eshan Bogha, and his
sympathies were consequently on that side ; and on the
death of Eshan he allied with his son Dost Muhammad.

Saniz, on the other hand, favoured the cause of Yunus,
and calling him to his aid, with his assistance drove
Hydar to quit Kashghar and join Dost at Acsu. Whilst
at Kashghar on this occasion, 1461, Yunus married Shah
Begum, the daughter of Shah Sultan Muhammad of
Badakhshan. She was the mother of his sons Mahmud
and Ahmad. Saniz was killed by a fall from his horse
after a rule of seven years as a dependent of Yiinus.
Hydar, aged seventeen years, on this seized Kashghar,
whilst Dost made an unsuccessful attempt to secure
Yarkand, whence, however, he carried off the family of
Saniz — the widow Jamak Agha, whom he married, and
her sons Ababakar and Umar, and a daughter. On his
return homewards he plundered Yangi Hissar, an act of
hostility which sent Hydar over to the side of Yunus,
and on arrival at Acsu married his sister to Ababakar.

Dost Muhammad by his eccentricities, violent temper,
and outrageous acts, soon estranged his best friends, and
frightened Ababakar to seek refuge with his uncle at
Kashghar. He died after a course of seven years of

ANARCHY FOLLOWS HIS DEA TH. 199

Violence and licence, in 1468, and Yiinus immediately
pounced upon Acsu, whence his infant son, Kabak, was
carried away to Turfan, whilst the second time widowed
Jamak Agha escaped to Kashghar, and became the
wife of Hydar, to whom she bore Muhammad Husen, the
father of the author of " Tarikhi Eashidi." Yiinus now
received the submission of Hydar, and keeping him in
the government of Kashghar, himself returned to the
steppes of Mugholistan, owing to the aversion of his
nomad supporters to the restraints of a city life, and
ruled there for several years.

Meanwhile at Kashghar Hydar's last wife, Jamak
Agha, was exerting herself in forwarding the interests
of her eldest son Ababakar, who was now grown up a
tall and powerful man, and had become a favourite
amongst the courtiers on account of his bravery, and
skill in the use of the bow. She persuaded Hydar to
dismiss his most influential nobles from court, and by
one device and another succeeded in detaching his best
friends from him, and attaching them to the cause of
Ababakar, who soon fled from Kashghar with a following
of three thousand of the best men in the country, and,
seizing Yarkand, allayed Hydar's wrath by promising to
hold the place in subjection to him. He was presently
joined by his brother Umar, and they set out together
to take Khutan, the government of which was held by
their kinsmen, the descendants of Khizr Shah, who had
been installed there by his father, the Amir Khudadad.
On the way Ababakar, becoming jealous of a possible
rival, deprived his brother of sight, and sent him back
to Kashghar, and advanced on his enterprise unfettered.
His object failed, and he returned to Yarkand to pre-
pare for another attempt, in which he carried the place
by a piece of treachery which it seems is common to the

200 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

country. The ruler was invited to swear to terms of
peace on the Curan, and whilst so engaged was set on
and murdered together with his followers.

After thus securing Khutan, Ababakar subjugated the
hill tracts to the south by a succession of excursions up
the courses of its several streams, and on his return to
Yarkand essayed an expedition against Yangi Hissar.
Hydar came out with a numerous rabble to oppose him,
but was driven back with discomfiture, and at once
called on Yunus to aid him. On his arrival they
attacked Yarkand with their conjoined forces, and for-
tune again declaring in favour of Ababakar, they were
put to flight in disgraceful panic.

Yunus vowing condign vengeance, retreated to his
steppes, and next year, 1479, returned with an immense
gathering of his Mughols, and proceeded with Hydar to
invest Yarkand with 90,000 men. This army fared
worse than the first, and Yunus following the flight of
his terrified nomads, was joined at Acsu by Hydar with
his family from Kashghar, which, now abandoned, fell
into the hands of Ababakar.

Yunus and Hydar wintered at Acsu, and in spring
went to the steppes to recruit their forces for a final
attempt to crush Ababakar. In the summer, however,
Yiinus was called off into Andijan to mediate between
his warring sons-in-law, Umar Shekh (father of the cele-
brated Emperor Babur) of Farghana, and Sultan Ahmad
of Samarcand, and, entangled in the affairs of these
countries, finally established himself at Tashkand; whilst
Ababakar, left to himself, consolidated his authority over
his conquests from Khutan to Kashghar, and taking
advantage of the confusion produced by the Uzbak in-
vasion of the western half of Badakhshan, advanced and
seized the eastern half of the territory, which he an-

ABABAKAR USURPS THE GOVERNMENT. 201

nexed to Kashghar. This was twelve years before its
conquest by Sa'id. Ababakar also greatly improved
Yarkand, which he made his capital, with handsome
mansions, and gardens, and strong fortifications.

Whilst Ytinus was engaged in the politics of Andijan,
his son Ahmad, or Alaja, retired to the steppes to possess
himself of the rule over the nomads there. Having done
this, he in 1499 turned his arms against Ababakar, and
seizing Kashghar, wintered there. His attack upon
Yarkand in the ensuing spring failed, and he was driven
back to the steppes in disorder.

On the death of Ahmad two or three years later at
Acsu, his son and successor Mansur, aged sixteen years,
quarrelled with his younger brothers as to the division
of the heritage, and one of them appealing for aid to
Ababakar he marched against Acsu. Mansur retired
before him to the steppes, and the invader, seizing the
place, plundered the treasures accumulated by Ahmad,
and, dismantling the fortifications, returned to his capi-
tal. After this, when Sa'id, returning from Kabul with
Babur, was sent to take possession of Andijan, Ababakar,
seizing the opportunity of the confusion there, invaded
the country to recover it for Kashghar, as part of the go-
vernment of his ancestor Bolaji, but he was defeated, and
compelled to beat a hasty retreat. He was so enraged
at the failure of his troops, that, under the accusation of
treachery, he executed more than three thousand of them
with most horrible tortures and mutilations.

On Sa'id's expulsion from Andijan a few years later,
he revenged himself on Ababakar by that invasion which
gave him the country, and relieved its people from the
cruelties of their heartless ruler. Ababakar himself was
so mistrustful of the loyalty of his subjects that, on the
approach of his enemy, he razed to the ground the

202 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

ancient city of Kashghar, and hastily raising the fortifi-
cations of the present city a little higher up on the river
bank placed a garrison in it, and himself retired to
Yarkand with the entire population of the destroyed city.
His newly built fortifications were immediately aban-
doned to the invaders, and when Yangi Hissar fell
shortly after, Ababakar, leaving his son Jahangir to de-
fend the place, quitted his capital, and fled with his
treasures to Khutan. His son, in place of defending
Yarkand, gave the city up to plunder, and fled with
what he could lay hands on after his father.

The one perished miserably, after wandering about
the desert mountains of Tibat, abandoning his loads of
treasure at the different steeps as his cattle died under
their weight, and casting his hidden store of diamonds,
and rubies, and emeralds into the torrents across his
path, through fear the knowledge of their possession
might be the forfeit of his life ; whilst his followers, fore-
seeing the end, plundered their charges, and gradually
dropped off to share the spoil, and to fish out of the
stream the sparkling gems thus cast away.

Worn with fatigue and hunger, the friendless fugitive,
on the approach of winter, sought shelter from the cold
blasts of the Caracoram plateau in the hollows of the
Caracash valley, where his hiding was betrayed, and he
was overtaken and slain at the entrance to the pass we
have presently to go over.

The other, trammelled with the quantity of his plunder,
was overtaken at Sanju and consigned to prison, where
he was subsequently executed for plotting a revolt.
And so ended with father and son the rule of the Amirs
of Kashghar, who derived their rank and power through
the military system first organised there by Changiz.
The author from whom I have drawn so largely in these

CHARACTER OF ABABAKAR. 203

pages gives a frightful picture of the cruelties and tyranny
of this Ababakar Mirza. He killed several of his own
children for trivial offences, and condemned his relations,
male and female alike, to revolting tortures and deaths.
Whilst as to his officers and subjects, their lives, and per-
sons, and property were at the whim of his despotic will ;
and so great was the terror inspired by his capricious
judgments, that the relations of society were destroyed,
and no man trusted his neighbour, or child his parent.
He organised a system of prisoner gangs, recruited from
both sexes of the people on frivolous pretences, for the
purpose of exhuming the treasures buried under the
ruined cities in the desert. Many thousands were thus
employed during all seasons under a most rigorous dis-
cipline ; and the stores of wealth and gems thus collected
were hoarded in his treasury, to be finally cast away in
the torrents of the mountains.

Yet, notwithstanding this character for cruelty, trade
flourished during his reign, and Islam prospered. Its
law, in fact, was taken as his guide, and made to suit
his will, under a system which the priests very soon
learned that they dare not resist, except at the price of
life, or torture worse than death.

Such is a short summary of the history of the man
who, four hundred years ago, seized the western half of
Kashghar to convert its soil into a garden for himself,
and its people into the slaves of his will ; and who, after a
rule of nearly half a century, ended his career as a hunted
outcast on the spot which has drawn us from the path
of our journey for this historical digression.

At Mazar Ababakar Mirza the road quits the valley
of the Caracash, and turns to the left up a tortuous gully,
which winds down from the north with the drainage of
the hills about the southern slopes of the Sanju Dawan.

204 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

We found the path through it very steep, narrow, and
rough, and difficult of passage, owing to the repeated
crossings of its torrent, which was at this time a solid
mass of ice, smooth and slippery as ice is known to be.
After ascending about two hours we came to a landslip
which blocked the gully, and clambering over its great
angular masses, and sharp edged fragments, at a few
steps beyond passed on into a turfy lane which lay dark
and gloomy before us between high walls of perpendicu-
lar rock. This is Caracoram camp ground. It is a tight
strait in the mountains, and is between two and three
hundred yards long by fifty or sixty wide. We crowded
our camp on the narrow strip of turf which edged the
little stream that trickled from side to side down its
slope, and during our short rest here experienced in a
new form the incidents and hazards of travel amongst
these mountains.

The character of the ascent from the river up to this
spot is peculiarly wi]d and dismal. Yet it is a mild
representation of what the morrow showed us further on.
The mountains rise up aloft in overwhelming heights of
the blankest nudity, and their rugged rocks frown upon
the narrow clefts that wriggle down amongst them, with
a look of menace which the masses of fallen debris that
here and there choke the passage, and everywhere en-
cumber it, tell the nature of. The unmitigated asperity
which meets the eye from every side is oppressive by its
very monotony. There is no variety in the aspect of the
scene, nor any vista that opens out a prospect of escape
from its toils. It is schist, and shale, and gneiss on all
sides, and everywhere equally bare, and equally repul-
sive. The sense of isolation produced by the vast moun-
tains closing in upon the traveller, step by step, as he
progresses, warns him against delay upon their crumbling

APPROACH TO SANJU PASS. 205

precipices, whilst the streams, fast becoming solidified in
their rough beds, speak to him of the rigour of the
advancing season, which has already destroyed what
scanty vegetation found soil enough to sprout on, and
tell of at least one cause of the sufferings of the caravan
cattle driven this way.

This freezing of the watercourses on the higher ele-
vations is not the least of the causes which destroys the
cattle in such numbers on this route. Added to their
other toils these doomed creatures have often to journey
a whole day without water, for though their drivers can
melt enough ice to cook their own tea, they have not the
fuel to dissolve any for their cattle till they reach the
larger streams on which the camps are usually pitched.
At this Sanju Pass there are stages on either side of the
ridge, where, in the depth of the winter, no water is
procurable for the cattle from this cause.

Our cattle had a very toilsome journey this day, and,
though the distance was only ten miles, did not all
arrive in camp till seven o'clock, when darkness fell
upon the scene with a gloom befitting the occasion.
Our stay at Shahidullah had exhausted the resources of
that thinly peopled locality, and the passage of our
advance camp by this route a few days before us had
reduced the limited stock of fuel and fodder stored here
to a minimum. Consequently for the first time on our
long march we were put on " short commons." For-
tunately our cattle had been well cared for, and spared
as much as possible on the march to the frontier, and
were now in the best condition to face such a temporary
hardship, though it but ill fitted them to cope with the
difficulties the morrow brought upon them.

The elevation of this place is about 12,050 feet, and
the cold was severe, though the thermometer under the

206 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

verandah of my tent only registered 10° F. During the
night we were disturbed by the combined effects of this
frost, and the wind sweeping through the gap we occu-
pied. The dark, and absolutely straight walls of rock
which rose on either side of us were split and fissured
with a succession of explosive sounds that jarred ungrate-
fully on the ear, to be followed by the crash of falling
fragments overbalanced from their insecure lodging above
by the force of the wind. Some of these fragments re-
bounding from the loose rocks below — their predecessors
in fall — injured several of our followers and cattle, and
amongst the former my groom, who did not recover
from the lameness thus produced for eight or ten days.

At this place Haji Tora received a letter from the
Dadkhwah of Yarkand, and with it, as a present for the
envoy, a handsome fur-lined juba and tilpac, in which,
according to the customs of the country, as acknowledg-
ment of the compliment, our chief was presently robed.
The bright colours of the flowered silk cloak, as its loose
folds hung from his manly form, and the fresh green of
the velvet cap, though more suited in outward appear-
ance to the elegancies of the Tatar court than to the
rough realities of the spot, had within them what was a
comfortable protection from the keen severity of the
winter air in Tatary, and the Dadkhwah in the selection
of this expression of goodwill showed a judicious regard
for the conventional and the practical combined.

Our next stage was across the Sanju Dawan to Gach-
aka — eighteen miles. We set out at 9 A.M., and went in
a north-east direction up a narrow gully which winds
as a deep groove amongst mountain walls of bare rock-
lofty, jagged, broken, and irregular, presenting a scene
of the wildest character with never a feature to soften
its harshness. In three quarters of an hour we came to

ROUGH GROUND AND OBSTRUCTIONS. 207

a great landslip which blocked the gully as with a bar-
ricade. It was a whole bluff fallen away from its parent
hill, and lay piled up as a huge bank with the ruins of
its downfall.

Our road — if such it can be called by which we took
our horses scrambling, and climbing, and tumbling over
this pile of rocks, here dropping into a breakleg fissure
between sloping stones, there passing over the carcase of
some baggager who, when he could no longer serve his
master, left his body to fill a hole and smooth the way
for a following comrade in toil, and elsewhere lying
across some slanting rock, as insecure in its fixture as the
surface it offered for passage — at this spot became almost
impracticable, and the number of carcases strewed about
its inequalities bore evidence of its difficulty.

Fortunately it is not of great extent, and leads beyond
to an easy bit of road which winds up the course of the
stream, at this time solid ice and slippery as it is steep,
to a spot where its channel divides to receive the drain-
age of two sweeping slopes of the Sanju hill which here
meet by narrow outlets to form a tight little hollow.
This spot is called Zakongra by the Kirghiz, after the
name of its rivulet, and it is also called Caracoram, from
the dark colour of the debris of its rocks, and it is the
first stage at the foot of the pass on this side. We
alighted here for breakfast, and found a caravan of
Bajawar Afghans loading their cattle, and driving them
off one after the other to find their way down the gully
we had come up. They had about sixteen horses laden
with charras (resin of Indian hemp) which they were
taking from Yarkand to Ladakh, and had found a com-
fortable shelter for the night under an overhanging bank
of conglomerate, which here blocks the entrance to the
Sanju Dawan slope.

208 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Our baggage and camp had left the ground two hours
before we set out, and was conveyed on the horses and
yaks provided by our Yarkand allies ; our own mules, one
hundred and ten in number, being reserved to meet
contingencies. During our halt for breakfast, the strag-
glers, and last out of camp came up and passed on, and
we congratulated ourselves with the promise of having
all clear over the pass before us.

At about noon we mounted the yaks reserved here for
our use, and resumed our route. A few paces across the
little Caracoram hollow brought us to a steep gap in the
rocks, only wide enough for one laden mule to pass at a
time, and beyond it led up through a wider passage
between high banks of schist to the long slope at the
top of which is the Sanju pass.

The scene which now burst upon our view is one not
easy to describe, still less to forget Immediately on
either hand, like the portals of a gate, stood bare banks
of silver grey slate which gently spread away on each
side into the slopes, that inclining together formed the
theatre of the spectacle they limited. And immediately
in front commenced that gentle rise over slabs of slate
debris — the natural dark hue of which was lost in the
bright sparkle of its abundant mica — which led at once
on to the field of our vision.

Here, at the foot of the ascent, one step took us from
the tiresome monotony of the bare rocks behind with all
their dulness of hue, on to the snow which overspread
all before with a white sheet of the most dazzling bril-
liance. On the left and on the right it spread with uni-
form regularity to the crests of the bounding ridges in
those directions ; whilst in front it rose up as a vast wall,
whose top cut the sky in a succession of sharp peaks
with a clearness of outline rarely witnessed. And above

A BLOCK ON THE PASS. 209

all stretched the wide expanse of heaven with a depth
unsearchable in the speck] ess purity of its azure, and
with a calm such as often precedes the storm. Wonder-
ful was the scene !

I stopped awhile to gaze upon its sublimity, and as
my eyes turned from side to side, and followed the cir-
cling of the white eagles as they floated majestically over
the pass, like sails upon a bright blue sea, they were
attracted by something which immediately turned the
current of my thoughts. I saw at the top of the pass,
at a narrow gap between two sharp peaks, a small knot
of black figures moving about the spot in commotion,
and from them I traced a long, dark, zigzag line, mo-
tionless and still, right down to the foot of the steep. A
few minutes brought me to the tail of the column, and
I learned that our camp and cattle were all stranded
here, nobody exactly knew why — except that a caravan
coming from the opposite direction had met the head of
their column at the top of the rise. A slow and tedious
climb, now on foot and now on my yak, past the long
array of standing cattle, took me to the top. Here the
envoy and Haji Tora wTere superintending the passage of
our caravan from a narrow ledge of rock at the very
crest itself. I found a perch on a projecting rock just
above it, and took the altitude by the hypsometer and
found it about 16,300 feet. The sky was beautifully
clear, and the air light, still and frosty ; and the view
of the snowy ranges, with the multitude of their sharp
jagged peaks, very fine. But an affair of more moment
now claimed the attention. For about thirty paces from
the top of the pass the rock was coated with sheet ice,
and at so steep a slope that no animal could pass it with-
out aid, so slippery was its surface. Steps were now
cut in the ice with picks, and laid with blankets and

o

210 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

felts ; and over this footing the cattle were run up one
by one, a Kirghiz leading in front and another whipping
behind, and passed on through the narrow gap at the
crest to find their way as best they could down the
other side. The process was slow and attended by
many accidents, for the cattle were so numbed by
standing for hours in the snow, that their limbs had
lost much of their proper activity. One of our mules,
slipping from his narrow footing, rolled down the slope
on to a zig of the path below, and so injured him-
self that it was necessary to shoot him there, and shift
his gear to the back of another. A second fell in the
passage of the ice at the top, and with such a jerk that
the Kirghiz lost hold of his bridle, and he rolled down
the precipice " tail over tip " in a most extraordinary
fashion, bounding off and rebounding from the covered
rocks in his way with a force enough to smash every
bone in his body. Indeed, as his legs flapped about like
flails, and his neck doubled under his turning body as it
went rolling down, we concluded such was already the
case. But to our astonishment, when he was stopped in
his frightful fall by a small ledge on the hillside some four
hundred feet below, he struggled a few moments to right
his inverted body on the snow, and regaining his feet
shook himself straight, and looking around instinctively
made across the snow to join the line of his comrades, the
lower end of which was close by. The poor brute was
so cut about and injured, however, that he died a few
days after.

After two hours of this labour, about a hundred of our
cattle had been thus passed over, leaving double the
number still standing on the zigzag awaiting their turn,
when all of a sudden a squall of wind from the north
enveloped the country in clouds, and drove fine particles

SUDDEN SNO WSTORM. 2 1 1

of snow, like frozen sand, with blinding force against us.
It was nearly four o'clock, and Haji Tora, rising from his
seat on the ice, urged -the envoy to quit his post, and
hurry down out of the snow on the other side, or else we
should be all benighted where we were.

It was not a time for hesitation or delay, and the Haji
leading the way we followed. A few steps took us
through the gap at the crest ; it is only wide enough for
one laden mule to pass at a time, and revealed to us the
descent down which our route doubled its way. It was
like — the simile is not at all far-fetched — a white board
set at a sharp angle against a wall, and was strewed on
each side the path with the wreck of our camp. The path
itself, which went down in steep sharp zigs, was frozen
hard, and was so slippery, that the cattle, here without
drivers, crowded together at the turns, till the pressure
of others coming on from above dislodged them on to
the snow on either side, or pushed them on to the next
turn of the path further down.

Our yaks had been kept in attendance a little way
down the slope, but in the confusion and noise of the
storm were so restive, that their footing on the ice was
almost as unsafe as that of the other cattle, and we con-
sequently preferred trusting to our own natural supports
to carry us to some less steep ground. How the others got
down I don't know, though I have a very vivid recollec-
tion of the manner of my own descent. I had on a pair of
treble soled shooting boots studded with nails, which I
found usually gave me a secure hold on slippery rocks
and ice, and therefore essayed to pick my way cautiously
down the path. I had hardly cleared the first turn, when
a mule, pushed on from above, came sliding after, and
knocked me from the path. And away I went with giant
strides down the steep, till the sight of an upset mule in

212 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

front of me, frantically pawing the air in his efforts to
gain his feet, instinctively caused me to fall on my back;
and I was speedily brought to a stop with my feet against
his ribs. An unceremonious plant which proved of mutual
advantage, inasmuch as it somehow enabled the unfor-
tunate brute to recover his feet just as a couple of our
Ladakh coolies, abandoning another they were close by
setting loose from the load burying him under his fall,
came to my aid. 1 went on again picking my way
amongst the sprawling cattle — here still in death, and
there struggling madly to free themselves from the en-
tangling ropes of their fallen loads — and amongst the
scattered tents, and boxes, and gear strewed about where-
ever some obstructing rock had stopped their roll, now
sinking knee deep into some pitfall, and then tripping
over some loose balanced stone concealed by the snow,
till I passed from the steep on to a broad slope, where,
in a hollow under the shelter of a great shelving rock, I
found a party of Afghan merchants who were delayed here
by our occupation of the pass. They were refreshing some
of their countrymen of our escort and following with the
pipe of friendship, and I stopped to learn their latest
news from Yarkand. Just at this moment a tremendous
crash drew our attention in the direction of the pass,
and an indescribable scene met the eye. Its upper part
was concealed in a thick mist, from the edge of which
were seen men, and cattle hurrying, and tumbling down
the steep in a confused crowd to right themselves, and
pick up the pieces as best they could, on the slope where
we stood. Whilst looking, another avalanche, some hun-
dred or hundred and fifty yards to the right of the pass,
came thundering down its side, and rolled away to a hol-
low on the left just beyond our position as we faced the
pass.

FALL OF AN AVALANCHE. 213

Amongst the others who were now passing on down
the slope, were three of the Turkish officers who had
come with Haji Tora from Constantinople. They were
numbed, famished, and frightened, and, having lost their
horses on the pass, were on the look out here to recover
them. They mentioned having passed my horse and yak
coming on together close at the foot of the steep. So I
waited their arrival, and then wrent on down the slope in
the hope of getting a shot at some of the snow pheasants
which are said to abound in this locality. I saw no trace
of them, but hurrying on, got some specimens of the snow
bunting on the way.

At the foot of the steep, the ground slopes gently, and
spreads out in undulations up to the hills on each side ;
and being more level, the snow lay deeper on it. I here
returned to the path to mount my yak, and met one of the
Turks whom I had left at the foot of the steep. He had
annexed a yak allotted to another, and, on its master
claiming his own, was left here to trudge it on foot. I
found him seated on the snow wringing his hands, and
crying Ya Allah, Ya Allah, in helpless despair. His nose
and cheeks and knuckles were fissured by deep, bleeding
chaps, as if scored with a knife, and altogether he looked
a very pitiable object, and was so bewildered that he
was careless to control the fluttering of his loose robes
in the breeze. He looked up at me with a woebegone
countenance, and sighed Ya Allah ! and with a despond-
ing roll of his head from side to side lulled himself with
a repetition of Fana ! choc fana ! " Dreadful ! very
dreadful ! "

I could not help laughing at his droll expression of
misery, and some very animated but unintelligible refer-
ences to Stambol, which I interpreted, however, to mean
that " Constantinople was a much better place than this,

2i4 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

and that he was a fool to leave it." I bid him cheer up,
and giving him a good dose from my brandy flask —
which he disposed of like a Christian — mounted him
on my pony, a hardy and spirited little animal I had
selected from a batch provided for us by Mr Johnson at
Nubra.

The impetuous little creature, only half broken as he
was, no sooner felt a new hand on the bit than he com-
menced some of his playful antics, which ended in fright
at the flapping of his rider's cloak, and away he went at
full speed across country towards the hills on the left.
The Turk stuck to him manfully, as the wild little brute
tore madly over the inequalities of the ground, till pre-
sently he plunged into a snow drift, and shot his rider
a complete somersault over his head. The dark bundle
of clothes lay still for a few minutes, and then a head
and pair of arms appeared held up to heaven, and, doubt-
less, there were many Ya Allahs ! repeated, for I was
too far off to hear.

My pony meanwhile went off down the valley, kicked
off his saddle in one place and his bridle in another, and
then herded, as was his wont, amongst the baggage horses
of a Yarkand caravan, which we shortly after found
halted at the Coramlik-jilga camp ground, about a mile
and a half lower down, and just beyond the snow, where
he was captured.

At this place I found the envoy, and Haji Tora, and
Captain Chapman, and half a dozen others of our party,
all safe, and refreshed by some tea the Yarkandis had set
before them. We stopped a few minutes here to look up
at the formidable pass behind us. Nothing was to be
seen but clouds and snow, and the dark shadows of
nightfall which were closing rapidly upon us. We re-
sumed our route, and hurried on, down a rapidly falling

BENIGHTED IN THE SNO W.

215

defile, by a winding path amongst a maze of earthy
mounds to Gachaka, seven or eight miles distant.

The path was very slippery owing to the hard frost ;
and the last part of the road was got over in the dark.
It was eight o'clock before we reached Gachaka, and
here we found that no part of our camp had yet arrived.
Haji Tora gave us some dinner in a Kirghiz acoe set up
for him, and whilst we were thus agreeably engaged had
another set up for us. It was the only one procurable
in the place, and, though in a very wofully decayed
condition, was a welcome shelter for the night. Mean-
while some of our followers came dropping in by ones
and twos, but except the envoy's tent none of our camp
came in that night.

But I have delayed long enough over our passage of the
Sanju Dawan, which we had heard of from our friends
under the name of the " Grim Pass." The name is not
known to the natives ; but whatever its derivation, our
experience proved it an appropriate one.

We halted next day at Gachaka for our followers
benighted on the pass to come on and join us. This is
a mere camp ground on the Sarighyar river, and its
elevation is about 10,100 feet. There are some Kirghiz
camps in the hollows and nooks around, and some small
patches of corn field here, but there is no house or hut
of any kind.

During the morning, parties of Kirghiz, with all their
available cattle, were sent up to the pass to help on our
stranded people, and baggage ; and by ten at night all
our followers were collected in camp with all our mules,
excepting eight that had died on the pass. The riding
ponies of our followers did not all join us till the next
day, and on arrival at Tarn, showed by their nibbled
tails, and munched clothing the strait they had been

216 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

reduced to by hunger. Haji Tora lost twelve horses of
his camp left dead on the pass, and three of our followers
were severely frost-bitten. Of these, two lost some of
their toes, and did not recover the use of their feet for
three or four months ; and others were more or less
deranged by the night's exposure in the snow. Had it
not been for the careful preparations made by the envoy
at Ladakh, which provided each man with a suitable kit
of warm clothing and furs, I doubt not but we should
have lost some of our men. As it was, they recovered
from the hard trial better than was expected. At this
place the Bhot coolies we had brought on from Shahidulla
were discharged, at their own entreaty, which was
pressed with a free shedding of tears, to return home
before winter fully set in. Poor fellows, they had our
best wishes, and certainly earned them.

In the evening Haji Tora took leave of the envoy for
the night, as he was expected at Tarn, ten miles on down
the valley, on a delicate affair in which, according to the
custom of the country, a Kirghiz maiden was his part-
ner. We met him there next day, and before leaving
Tarn, which is a lonely hamlet of six or eight cabins
crowded together under two roofs, on our forward
journey were joined by the remnant of our followers,
and baggage, and cattle from this side of the pass ; all
brought in by the Kirghiz.

Tarn means " a wall " and a " mud house," and exactly
describes this place, which is the first fixed habitation
(not an outpost) with cultivated fields, that we have
come to since we left Changlung. It stands on a sandy
beach close to the Sarighyar river, or the "Yellow
Ravine " from the predominant colour4 of its rocks ; just
as Kokyar, or the "Blue Ravine," further to the west is
named from the dark shades of its rocks.

ARRIVAL A T SANJU. 2 1 7

From Tarn we marched to Kiwaz, sixteen miles. The
road goes down the narrow and winding defile, and
crosses its stream repeatedly from side to side, amidst a
gradually thickening growth of brushwood. On our
way we passed three or four caravans of charras from
Yarkand on their way up to the pass. Between Gachaka
and this place the river is crossed twenty-eight times.
In the summer the floods render the route impracticable
during certain months, and then the Kulik and Kilian
passes are used. A little way out of camp we passed the
remains of a barricade built across the valley by Aba-
bakar, when he fled into the mountains from Sa'id, as
I have before mentioned. And at an hour out of camp
we came to the Chuchu gully on the right. There is,
we were told, an alternative route over the pass at its
top to Sanju.

At Kewaz the valley expands into a flat sandy basin,
in which are several detached huts and a good deal of
cultivation, but I saw no " cotton," which tlie name of
the place implies. The brushwood along the river banks
is very similar to that of the Nubra valley.

On arrival in camp the envoy was received by Mulla
Hydar, the Hakim Beg of Guma. He brought with
him some pheasants which had been hawked near his
capital. He was a kind-featured old man with a very
quiet, and unassuming manner. He attracted our atten-
tion by the size of his Tartar cap, and its fox fur border,
the first notably distinct sign of the new costumes, and
peoples we were come amongst.

Next day we marched to Sanju, twelve miles, and
joined the advance party under Colonel Gordon. A
little way out of camp we crossed the Sarighyar river
over a wide boulder bed, and going down an expanding
valley, along the foot of some high banks of red sand

218 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

and gravel, at an hour and a haif came to the cultiva-
tion of Sanju. We passed on amongst its fields and
gardens for another hour and a half nearly, and then
arrived in camp, near which the familiar uniforms of
our comrades, coming to welcome their chief, caught our
attention amongst the trees, and for the time diverted
our thoughts from the extraordinary, and sudden change
of scene we had entered to the more engrossing topics
of each other's welfare and experiences. We found that
our friends had got over the pass before the frost set in,
and without the accompaniment of a snowstorm, and
that they fortunately escaped the difficulties we had to
encounter.

We halted here three days to allow the stragglers of
our own and Haji Tora's party to come up with the bag-
gage, &c., which had been left behind on the other side of
the pass. And a more welcome rest in a more agreeable
spot we could not have found in all this region. The
halt afforded us an opportunity of experiencing some-
thing of the same sort of surprise in the change of
scene as the Emperor Babur more than three hundred
years before experienced in his much more sudden transi-
tion from the north side of the Hindu Kush to its south at
Kabul, as is so interestingly told in his memoirs. As he
found there, so we found here, a complete change in the
character of the scene. The climate, and the country,
and its soil were different; its people, and their language,
and their manners were of another sort ; and its plants,
and animals, and birds were of other kinds.

CHAPTEE VII.

SANJU is a delightful place. To us emerging from the
mountains after three weeks of toil across their vast
wastes of desert plateaux, glacier passes, and bridgeless
torrents, it seemed a perfect paradise, inviting a season
of repose on the very threshold of the level plains of
Tatary, which now spread open their wide surface to our
view. After the rugged rocks, and crumbling barriers of
the gloomy defiles we had left behind us, the eye here
revelled in the freedom of its range. The blank nudity
and sterility of the soil, which by very repetition had
palled upon us, was here relieved by the sight of orchards
and plantations, of stubble fields and stacked corn.
The recollection of keen frosts and blighting winds was
lost in the grateful sensations of a milder climate and
free respiration ; and above all, the dreadful solitude of
the desert was exchanged for the welcome society of
mankind — an agreeable change. And the more so by
reason of our hospitable reception, no less than of the
different race of that fellow-being, which in its foreign
type and tongue, as in its strange dress and customs, now
invited our interest.

Shortly after arrival in camp, Ali Murad, the Beg or
" governor " of Sanju, appeared at the envoy's tent with
a long array of men bearing the trays of a sumptuous
dasturJchivan. There were soups, and pillaos (here
called ash), and roasts and ragouts. There were dry
fruits and fresh fruits, and there were bread in different
forms, and sweets of different sorts — all savouring more

220 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

of European tastes than Asiatic, as they are seen south
of the passes at all events. Spices are almost unrepre-
sented, and grease pervades every thing in the dishes with
which they are elsewhere generally used; whilst the fruits
are those of Europe, of which again the tea, and its ser-
vice remind one. Of the sweets, the characteristic were
a marmalade of fine cut carrots in syrup (called mur-
abba), and a cream of pounded white sugar flipped in
the white of eggs (called nashalla). Amongst the apples
we found a kind called muzalma, or " ice apple," which,
when cut, was semitransparent as if iced. With every
desire to acknowledge the compliment, and do justice to
the hospitality provided, our combined exertions were
of no avail in making any impression on the piles of
eatables which, according to the customs of the country,
should disappear under our attention. After tasting of
one and another, and praising each in turn, the allahu
akbar of eating released us from further responsibility,
and the feast was passed on to our attendants, who, with
a wonderful alacrity, adapting themselves to the re-
quirements of the place, finished the duty we had com-
menced. And that too entirely heedless of their Indian
prejudices which, but a few short weeks ago, nay but only
yesterday on the passes, compelled them to cast away
as unclean the food from their masters* table.

The dasturkhwan, which we faced here with, to our
hosts, such disappointing inability to cope with the
variety and abundance of its dishes, confronted us at
every stage, and at every halt ; and daily increased in
proportions and delicacy till, at Yarkand it reached to a
hundred trays, and at Kashghar attained the plenitude
of its richness and variety in I don't know how many
more. Nothing was done without the dasturUiwam,
and at last, the novelty wearing off, the very mention of

RE CEPTION AND DASTURKHWAN. 2 2 1

the name grated disagreeably on the ear. If we went
a shopping to the city, we were inveigled to some man-
sion and feasted. If we made an excursion to some ruin,
the spread of trays was sure to be found awaiting our
investigation under the shadow of its crumbling walls ;
or if we visited the mausoleum of some sainted martyr,
the same array invited us to desecrate the sacred pre-
cincts ; and, finally, if we made a ceremonial call upon
a magnate of the land, this irrepressible custom formed
the most important part of the interview.

Sanju is a populous and flourishing settlement, of about
twelve hundred houses or families, on the Sarighyar
river where it debouches on the plain. It extends up
and down both banks for ten or twelve miles in an un-
broken succession of farmsteads. These consist of three
or four huts clustered together in the midst of their orch-
ards, fields, and plantations, and are usually enclosed with-
in surrounding walls, but bear no signs of fortification.

Altogether the place bears a look of prosperity and
plenty, which our free rambles over its fields did not
belie. And it may be taken as the model of all the
other rural settlements we saw in the country, so far as
regards its general plan and character of cultivation, its
people and their surroundings. That is to say, it is
planted on a perennial stream, and irrigated by numer-
ous canals drawn from it. Its houses are more or less
widely separated from each other by intervening fields
and orchards, vineyards and plantations, or patches of
meadow land ; and they spread away on every side from a
central spot, which contains the residence of the gover-
nor, and a street of stalls and booths for the weekly
market, where the peasantry assemble from all quarters
to barter their farm produce, and small industries.

Its cultivation comprises wheat, and maize, and rice,

222 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

and barley in varying proportions according to soil.
Hemp, for its resin, which is a staple export to India;
and flax, for its seed, which is the source of the oil used
in the country ; cotton, for the material of the people's
every-day dress, and also for export. And garden produce,
such as is common in Europe, with melons and tobacco.
The fruits are the apple and pear, the apricot, plum, and
peach. The vine is every where cultivated, but wine is
unknown, and spirits are prohibited. The pomegranate,
almond, walnut, jujube and eloeagnus, are found generally
dispersed ; and the mulberry, willow, and poplar of two
kinds, with here and there the elm, are the timber and
fuel trees of the plantations and the water courses.

Silk is produced in some quantity, but of inferior
quality, from this up to Yangi Hissar, and is used for a
coarse home texture ; though some also finds its way to
Khocand, to which place too most of the cotton goes.

The cattle are cows of a finer breed than elsewhere in
the country; and sheep of the fat-tailed variety, superior
in size and wool to the English animal. The horses are
the hardy roadster of the short, thickset Tatar stamp ;
and there are a few mules of inferior powers — owing to
the diminutive size of the ass, which in this country
does abound.

The people are Turks of a purer racial type than the
more mixed populations of the Yarkand and Kashghar
settlements ; and they are a peaceable and industrious
community, devoted to the cultivation of the soil, and the
arts of their agricultural life. And they produce within
the limits of their own settlements all the means of an
independent subsistence in the matters of necessary food
and clothing. A result possibly of the isolation of their
several settlements, and a liability to severance from com-
munication with their neighbours in times of anarchy and

'CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY. 223

war. For around the Sanju settlement here, as elsewhere
in this remarkable region, is a blank desert of sand.

Their dress in the summer consists of a loose shirt, and
trowsers of coarse home-made cotton, and in winter the
same, with a long cloak padded and quilted in the form of
a loose robe like a dressing gown. Over these is usually
worn a long sheepskin coat, with the Tatar fur cap, and
boots lined with a casing of felt. Such is the dress of
the peasantry, men and women much alike ; the main
difference being in the finer quality, and varied patterns
of that of the latter, to whom also must be granted the
articles peculiar to the sex, such as the mantle and veil.

In the towns, of course, a greater diversity is seen, but
what I have stated as the dress of the people of Sanju is
the same as that of the peasantry generally, and it illus-
trates how independent they are of foreign sources for the
supply*of their actual requirements, as distinct from the
luxuries which become wants under a settled government
and just rule — those great blessings which, amongst their
other benefits, protect industry and promote commerce.

Our arrival at Sanju seemed to excite very little curi-
osity, and, excepting the fifty or sixty men who gathered
around our camp from the neighbouring homesteads,
there was no crowd of spectators to stare at the foreigner.
There was no guard to prevent their doing so, nor any-
body to warn them off had they come. It was not like
travelling in Afghanistan, where the European is sur-
rounded by military guards to protect him from the
violence or insult of a fanatic people who habitually
carry arms, and mob the foreigner as if he were a wild
beast to be hooted out of their presence, or hunted to
death for intruding amongst enemies, or, at least, fair
game to be plundered. Here the people were unarmed,
and we moved about their lands with perfect freedom,

224 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

and unattended, exciting no more commotion than any
one of themselves. Even the little boys did not display
the proverbial curiosity attributed to their class generally,
and our steps were dogged by no frolicsome urchins
making fun of the stranger, as they assuredly would have
been had we made our appearance in the streets of any
town at home in the guise of our travelling costume here.

Wherever we went, we met a deferential civility, and
an unexpected timidity. I passed several home-steads
of which the men were at work in the fields, and the
women in the courts in front of their houses, and did
not observe a single one of them cease their occupations,
or rise to stare at me as I passed. I even stood to watch
their operations without so much as disturbing them.
They seemed afraid to look up, or show any sign of
notice or interest. I was shooting little birds in the
hedge-rows, and collecting specimens of such plants as
were not already withered, and went freely in and out of
the orchards, and met no mark of disapproval, except from
the savage dogs, and they were immediately hushed by
their owners. And such was my experience everywhere
except in the cities.

The Beg of this place, Ali Murad, came to consult me
about a deep fissure he had in his under lip, and I com-
plimented him on the thriving condition, and quiet
demeanour of his people.

" Yes," he said, "Badaulat has reduced them to proper
order. But they are a rascally set of ruffians, and always
quarrelling among themselves. I keep them straight
by the shara" (Muhammadan law).

Perhaps he did, though I rather think he tried to mag-
nify the importance of his office and his own special
abilities, for he was a pretentious individual, and had
none of the retiring modesty of his subordinates.

THE MIR OF SANJU. 225

" Do you know Shaw Sahib ? " he inquired abruptly.

" Yes. I saw him at Leh, on my way here," I replied.

"Is it true, then, that he is Mir (governor) of
Ladakh ? "

" No. He is not what you understand by that term
(he himself being Mir of Sanju). He is what we call
Joint-Commissioner, or Magistrate, to protect the in-
terests of traders passing that way."

" Then he is a servant of the Government," he said,
inquisitively.

" Yes. He is appointed by Government to that spe-
cial duty."

" But he told us, when he came here a few years ago,
that he was a simple Sauddgar (merchant), and had
nothing to do with Government."

" Quite true. He was not then employed by Govern-
ment."

" And he is now," he said, with an enquiring look of
doubtful thoughts.

"Yes; because he knew your people, and was your
friend, and the best man for the duty."

" I see. I see. He is our friend," and with a pensive
nodding of the head and downcast eyes, "he is a very
clever man." And saying so, he as abruptly took- his
leave, and went away chuckling to himself.

I had cauterized his lip, and given him some oint-
ment for it, and, on the strength of the favour, he way-
laid me at every turn during the four or five days he
was with us, to tell me he felt no better. In fact, he
thought the condition of his lip was worse than before
I touched it.

"You tell me you have had this disease five years,"
I said, "and you expect to be cured in five minutes."

" If you only gave me your full attention, I am sure

p

226 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

you could cure me, for you people can do all sorts of
things."

" Well, you try my medicine for five weeks, and if it
in that time does not cure you, come to me at Yarkand
and I will cut the diseased part out for you."

This was quite enough for my garrulous friend, and
he pestered me no more to look and see what progress
the sore in his lip was making.

Amongst others who sought my assistance here was a
trader from the Punjab. He had come up last year, and
had penetrated to Khocand, and was now thus far on
his way back to Lahore. He had lost the tops of the
fingers of both hands from frost-bite. On one, the
wounds had long been healed up, but on the other, which
he kept in a bag of sheep-skin, smeared inside with suet,
they were still open, owing to some decayed bones being
in course of extrusion. He said he had cleared a profit
of nearly thirty per cent., and seemed quite content to
earn it at such a sacrifice.

On the 1st November, Ibraham Khan, who had been
left behind on the other side of the pass with the bag-
gage delayed there, arrived in camp with the last of our
belongings. He reported that the Kirghiz had rendered
a willing assistance, or he would not have got over so
soon. The Envoy's handsome present to them at
Gachaka, in acknowledgment of their good service to
our party on the 26th October, had evidently borne
its fruit, and enlisted their goodwill in our favour, not-
withstanding the competition of the caravans waiting to
pass over. The merchants of some of these, seeing the
difficulty ahead, sold their loads at the foot of the pass
to their more venturesome fellows, and returned to pro-
ceed back to their homes with our camp.

Next morning, just as we were about to mount to

RECEIPT OF THE ATALIK'S LETTER. 227

proceed on our onward journey, Mulla Artoc, whom I
have mentioned before as having overtaken us in the
Nubra valley, arrived from Kashghar with despatches
for Haji Tora, and a letter of welcome from Atalik Ghazi
for the Envoy. It was handed to the addressee by Haji
Tora with the observance of the customary ceremony,
and the Envoy, well acquainted with the customs of
the country, received it with proper respect in both
hands, and facing to the direction whence it came,
pressed it to his heart and eyes before unfolding to
read its contents ; and this done refolded and placed it
on his head with a careful tuck into a twist of his shawl
turban. Unlike the richly illuminated sheets, and huge
double envelopes of brocade and muslin which carry the
correspondence of princes on the other side of the passes,
this was a mere sheet of plain white paper, folded up
in a covering of the same. Unlike too the rhodomontade
and absurd compliments used in Indian correspondence,
the style of this letter was as simple as its paper, both
practical and to the purpose as a missive of welcome and
friendship — apparently in pursuance of the fashion first
introduced amongst the Mughols by the founder of their
power, the great Changiz.

From Sanju we marched to Coshtac — twenty-five
miles. After crossing the river on a firm boulder bed,
and passing through the strip of cultivation on its other
side, we ascended a high sand bank, and at once rose on
to the desert. It spread away before us in a great arc
which cut the horizon, and presented an undulating
surface of gravel, traversed in a south-easterly direction
by broken lines of sand dunes. Vegetation was ex-
tremely scanty and withered, and animal life was only
represented by a few larks of the "black-horned" species,
whilst the tracks of the antelope, with here and there

228 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

the burrows of the jerboa, told of other denizens of the
desert.

At half-way we dropped into a wide and shallow
ravine, and alighted at a resting stage under its bank,
for the dasturkhwan which we found spread at the side
of a frozen tank, under the branches of some poplar
trees that grew around it. This place is called Langar,
and consists of three or four huts in the midst of a
cluster of willow and elceagnus trees ; and round about
them are small patches of ploughed land.

We resumed our route across a continuation of the
desert to Coshtac, which is a similar, though much
smaller, settlement to that of Sanju. It lies in a wide
hollow on the banks of the Kilian river, which joins that
of Sanju near Guma away to the south-east. The joint
streams are further on lost in the desert of Takla, which
is a wide spread of sand in whose loose heaps are buried
the ancient cities of Khutan. Next day we went across
a similar strip of desert to Oetoghrac — the "poplar
house" from the number of those trees here — twenty
miles. This is a small collection of homesteads in the
ravine of a perennial little stream, whose spring-head is
at the foot of some gravel cliffs away to the left, or west
of our route.

Borya — twelve miles — was our next stage, on the 4th
of November, across a similar waste to a similar hollow,
and similar collection of farms. Except a small caravan,
at a few miles out of Sanju, we met no people on the
road, and observed nothing to note on the desert, be-
yond its limitation on the west by low spurs of gravel
and clay — which were concealed above in the obscurity
of thick haze — and its unlimited stretch on the east to
a distant horizon of a like haze, barely distinguishable
from the ground with which its colour mingled. Both

CHAR A CTER OF R US TIC LIFE. 2 2 9

sky and land were so much of the same colour — a light
yellowish dun or drab — that it was impossible at a
distance to distinguish one from the other In the
evening we enjoyed a reprieve from the blank monotony
of the view above and below and around by the spectacle
of a total eclipse of the moon, which we watched to
perfection in a cloudless sky, till near an hour short of
midnight by our time.

We did not observe that the people of the homesteads
amongst which we were camped took any notice of this
celestial phenomenon ; or if they did, it was without
demonstration of any kind. Not a soul was seen, nor a
voice heard beyond our own party, except the howl of
the watchdogs.

Indeed, the silence that pervaded these isolated little
centres of habitation had before attracted our attention,
and in all our subsequent experience was one of the most
notable features of peasant life in this country. We
never heard the sound of music, the voice of song, or the
laugh of joy, which, in the country dwellings of any
other clime, are the evening's solace after the labours of
the day. Nor did we see anything of the social gatherings
for gossip or romp, such as one might expect to find in
such communities, even amongst the young folks. Yet
we were assured that these people have their reunions
and parties, and after their own fashion enjoy the plea-
sures and .vanities of life much as other people do. It
may be, and very probably is so, only we saw no sign
of it, owing possibly to the circumstances of their
situation — cut off from their neighbours by desert, and
isolated amongst themselves by their separate dwell-
ings ; or, perhaps, owing to the rigid discipline of a
new form of government, jealous of the assemblage
together of individuals of its conquered subjects.

23o KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

From Borya we marched to Kargalik — twenty-two
miles — and halted a day. For the first fifteen miles the
route lay across a gravelly desert waste, and then sloped
gently to a wide hollow running west and east, and
covered for several miles up and down its course with
the cultivation of Besh Aric. This is a prosperous
and populous settlement, spread, as the name indicates,
over five canals drawn off from the river Teznaf (teznafi,
"quickly profitable"), or Tezab (the swift river) as it
is called in the "Tarikhi Eashidi." It irrigates all this
tract as far as Lakhof on the east, beyond which is the
desert again.

We alighted at some tents, pitched for us in the centre
of the settlement, to face the usual dasturkhivan, and
then resuming the route across a small strip of sandy
waste, on which we found the wild rue or peganum, the
wild liquorice, camel's-thorn, and tamarisk, &c., in one
hour reached Kargalik, where we were accommodated in
a rest house built expressly for us. This was the first
house we had occupied since leaving Murree, and, in
point of comfort, it was not inferior to those of our more
civilised country left behind, though of different style.

In its newly completed state it looked clean and invit-
ing, and its interior furniture showed how thoughtful
our hosts had been of our accustomed requirements.
The plan of the building was altogether native, and
built like the other houses in this country, of .raw bricks
laid on a foundation of rolled stones from the river's bed,
and coated with mud plaster. It was a quadrangular
enclosure in the midst of the town, and was entered by
a large gateway in which our guard took post. The
opposite wall was occupied by an open verandah, raised
two or three feet from the ground, which communicated
through a doorway, with a smaller court, partitioned off
for the kitchen, store-room, and out-offices.

OUR REST-HOUSE AT KARGARLIK. 231

Of the two remaining sides, one was occupied by a
large chamber open towards the square, and flanked on
each side by a bed-room, which opened into it by a door
on one side, and into the square by a door on the other.
The remaining side was occupied by a row of six or
seven small bed-rooms, protected in front by a verandah.
Each room had a fireplace and chimney after the fashion
of our own country, and was provided with a folding
door of coarse planks which turned on a pivot. The
floors were spread with handsome Khutan carpets, and
the walls were covered to a height of three feet by a
stretch of cotton cloth or velvet plush to protect the
dresses of those leaning against it. Above this was a row
of recesses by way of shelves, and above the door was a
ventilator to light up the white gypsum plaster of the
room.

Such were the rooms. The furniture comprised some
chairs and bedsteads built expressly for our benefit, on
what was supposed to be the model of those of our own
country. The production was not bad, and did credit to
the Chinese carpenter's ingenuity, thrown, as he was,
on his own resources, and without a pattern, in a
country where the people sit and sleep only on the floor.

Besides these quarters for ourselves, there was a second
quadrangle, across the road, for our servants and cattle,
with covered stalls for several scores of horses. This
shelter and rest was very acceptable, for our mules
seemed to feel the change of climate very much, notwith-
standing the care taken of them, and their light work.
They did not stand the weather so well as the horses of
our guides' escort. These had been warmly clad, and
led over the passes from Nubra to Sanju, where their
troopers, discarding the hardy little brutes that did tha
rough work of the mountains, returned to their chargers,
and appeared in the proper form and efficiency of a

23 2 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

" Guide." These cavalry horses very quickly picked up
condition, and their grand size and proud action amongst
the short and clumsy cattle of the country were the
admiration of the people, and with their riders inspired
no small respect for the worthy representatives of our
Indian army. In fact, the two orderlies riding ahead of
our cavalcade on the line of march habitually mono-
polised the salutations of the spectators, who hardly
ceased gazing after their handsome uniforms and soldierly
appearance till we had passed by unnoticed.

The mules, on the contrary, did not pick up so well
till they had enjoyed a good rest and feed in quarters,
and it was found necessary to assist them on the march
with the cattle of the country. The caravans going
out to Leh had already taken up most of the horses on
the line of our route, and our hosts could get us only
bullocks for the march from Sanju to this. These
animals are used in the passage of the mountains ap-
parently in considerable numbers, for I noticed their
skeletons were freely scattered on the passes. For cara-
van work in this region, I believe the Tibat pony is the
best of any of the cattle we saw, and the Kashghar
roadster the next. Indian cattle are not up to the work.

Kargalik is the largest settlement we have yet seen,
and is a market town. It produces a good deal of
cotton of good quality ; and much of it goes to the
Khocand market in the form of a coarse cloth called
kham. The people here, of whom we saw a crowd of
about three hundred, have a very mixed cast of features,
representing the Turk, Tatar, and Chinese separately,
and combined in no very attractive forms, in which
there seems to be a struggle between beard and no
beard.

I measured the height, and circumference of the head

FREQUENCY OF GOITRE. 233

above the ears, of thirty of the men loitering about our
gateway. The tallest was 70 \ inches, and the circum-
ference, of his head was 21 inches. The shortest was
6 If inches, and the circumference of his head 21-| inches.
The. mean of both measurements for all was 66f and
2 If inches respectively. The greatest circumference of
head was 22t|r inches, and the least 2 Of inches. All the
men wore boots and nearly all had the head shaved.

From Kargalik we marched to Posgam, twenty-five
miles, and camped in some gardens near the market.
The route lies through a populous and highly cultivated
tract, and interspersed here and there are strips of reed
marsh, and tamarisk jangal, and wastes covered with
saline encrustations and saltworts. At about half-way
we forded the river Teznaf, and on a roadside canal
beyond it saw an ingenious contrivance for husking rice
by water power. It was an overshot watermill, the shaft
of which worked a lever by means of two clappers fixed
near to its extremity. The long end of the lever had a
crusher fixed to it at an acute angle, and it rose and fell
with each stroke of the clappers. The whole machine is
roughly made of wood, and is inexpensive as it is simple.
It might with advantage be adopted in Kashmir.

A little further on we entered Yakshamba Bazar or
" Sunday Market," and alighted at a newly built rest-
house for the dasturldiwan. Of twenty men who bore
its trays nine were afflicted with goitre, and of eleven
others standing outside the gate five were similarly
afflicted. We had seen instances of this disease all along
the route from Sanju, but to-day its prevalence seemed
general, and further on at Yarkand itself we found fully
three-fourths of the population so afflicted, and often to
a hideous extent. At this place the Turkish officers in
the suite of Haji Tora made their appearance in full

234 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

uniform to the admiration of the natives, and created
somewhat of a puzzle on the score of their identity, and
various were the surmises as to who they really were.
Though they wore the red fez, with its tassel of black
silk, as the badge of their nationality, still their dress,
equipment, and bearing were so thoroughly European,
that their co-religionists might well be excused for
failing to recognise their long separated brethren with-
out formal introduction ; particularly as the western form
of their mother speech was hardly more intelligible to
the people in its early home, than the strange jargon in
which we offered them their own language.

Eesuming our route, we crossed some strips of waste
and marsh to Posgam, and in an hour and a half reached
camp near its Charshamba Bazar or " Wednesday
Market." Next day, the 8th of November, we made
our entry into Yarkand, and came to a halt for three
weeks. Our route for twelve miles lay through the
suburbs of the city, which in character resemble the
rural settlements already described, and, at about three
miles out, crossed the Yarkand river by a wide and
shallow ford over a firm pebbly bed. The stream is here
called Zarafshan or " the gold scatterer," not on account
of any of that precious metal borne in its floods, but on
account of the wealth its waters diffuse in the irrigation
of this spot. The city itself, and all its southern suburbs,
derive their water from this stream through an intricate
network of little canals, which here overspreads the land,
and fills it with a life and fertility, which appear the more
abundant and prosperous by contrast with the silent wastes
of sand and marsh that hem the tract around. We found
the river about stirrup deep, and flowing in two main
channels upon a wide pebbly bed, which spread nearly a
mile across between low banks of sand. Later in the season

A NOVEL MILITARY SALUTE. 235

the waters diminish, so that it is possible to cross dry-
shod, stepping from stone to stone. But in the height of
summer the floods from the melting snows and glaciers
at its sources fill the whole of its channel, and the river
is then crossed by boats, of which there are two or three
kept for the purpose at the Aygachi ferry, a few miles
below the place of our crossing.

We alighted at some tents pitched on the roadside
near the Langar Zilchak, a few miles short of the city, for
that tiresome ceremony the dasturJchivan, and availed
ourselves of the opportunity to put off our travelling
cloaks and wraps, and display the uniform we had before
starting donned for the occasion. Whilst resting here,
Yasawul-bashi Nyamatulla, " chief wand-bearer " in the
court of the Dadkhwah, arrived on the part of his master
to meet and welcome the Envoy. He carried in his
hand the emblem of his office — a long white willow
wand, which seemed never to leave it, for there it
always appeared on the several subsequent occasions on
which we saw him — and was attended by a guard of
about twenty soldiers, all, like himself, dressed and
armed in the Andijan fashion.

He was introduced to the Envoy by Haji Tora, and
after the interchange of the usual salutations, and the
delivery of his messages, he brought forward his guard to
pay their respects. They were standing in a row on one
side of the space in front of our tent, and were now
marshalled forward in batches of five or six to where
the Envoy and his staff stood for the purpose of saluting.
This they did by falling on one knee, and making a
rapid sweep of both arms in front, whilst they gabbled
some words of greeting, the import of which we did not
understand ; then stroking their beards as they rose, they
stepped back to their places to be followed by the next

236 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

batch who performed the same ceremony. And so on
with the rest. The whole process did not occupy a
couple of minutes. The men were fine looking fellows,
of quite a different stamp to the people of the country,
and in the loose folds of their many robes appeared of
huge size.

They wore long riding boots, which were case-lined
with felt, and only partly concealed by the capacious
trousers. These were of ample dimensions, and were
worn, two or three or more at a time, one inside the other ;
and all were covered by a succession of long robes like
dressing gowns, worn one over the other, to the number
of four, five, or six. These last were of printed cotton,
or of Khocand silk, and of all sorts of lively colours
in large staring patterns, which appeared at a distance
like what one might imagine to be broad lightning
streaks, and great thunder blotches jumbled up together.
The sleeves were of very extra length, loose above and
tight below, so that they puffed out the arms above the
wrist with a gradually increasing thickness. Around the
waist the folds of a long scarf contracted the length of
garments into a huge bundle above, and much the same
below, when seated especially. On it was clasped a
leather belt to which hung the sword, and a multitude
of receptacles for the furniture of the long prong-rest
gun (it was carried slung on one shoulder, and secured
under the arm of the same side), together with the other
items of the soldier's requisites. There were wash-leather
bags for powder and ball, dressed leather cases for caps,
for hammer, for pricker, for knife, &c. ; there were the
flint and steel case, and the little bag for snuff or tobacco,
or what not. And above all, the crowning piece of the
whole, was the snow white turban — proud badge of
devotion to Islam.

ENTRY INTO YARKAND. 237

This ceremony over, we mounted and set out for the
city. The Yasawul-bashi and his guard, mounted on the
sturdy little horses of the country, headed the proces-
sion. Next followed the troopers of our Guides' escort,
and then the Envoy and Haji Tora, attended by their
respective officers riding together, and behind came
our mounted followers. At about a mile or so from the
city we were met by the principal merchants, and some
citizens. They were reined up at the roadside, and, after
salutation, joined our party, and swelled the procession
to about two hundred and fifty horsemen. None of
them were richly dressed or well mounted, nor did any
of them carry arms, except the few Government officials
mixed up amongst them. Their general appearance was
shabby, and set off our own grande tenue to the greater
advantage.

Near the city we found the road had been hastily
cleaned for us — puddles filled, and dung-heaps levelled —
and was lined on either side by a crowd of the citizens,
who, as we rode past, remained perfectly still, and gazed
at us with respectful silence. They made no demonstra-
tion of surprise or curiosity, nor was a sound heard
amongst them. They were comfortably clad in the
sheepskins, and padded cotton gowns of the country,
and wore the long boot, and the Tatar cap of lamb-
skin, edged with otter fur; and if one might judge
from their ugly faces, and inexpressive looks, appeared
well disposed towards us.

I never saw a more quietly-conducted crowd, nor a
more submissive-looking people than those we passed
through as we entered the city of Yarkand. Nor, at
the same time, have I ever seen such a collection of re-
pulsive features and sickly countenances. It is beyond
my power to convey a correct idea of the confusion of

238 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

physiognomies presented by this crowd of faces, though
there was a master type running through the whole of its
diversity of forms. The gaunt, almost beardless visage,
and thick complexion of the Manchu, with his sunken
eyes, high cheek bones, and projecting jowl, form the
extreme of harshness in one direction ; whilst the fleshy,
perfectly smooth face, and pinky yellow colour of the
Calmac, with his oblique eyes, flat cheeks, and rounded
jowl, form the extreme of plainness on the other.

Between the two, as family types, are the bearded, sal-
low-skinned Turk of the country, and the angular, rosy
faced Kirghiz of the Steppes ; the coarse-featured, hard-
lined Tungani, and the thick-lipped, square-faced
Khitay, both of Western China ; and a number of mani-
fest Mongolic forms, in which the distinctive features of
the others are indefinitely blended by intermixture one
with the other ; or else lost in the improvement intro-
duced by foreign admixture, the nature and fruits of
which are seen in the crowd before us. For, attractive
by their singularity are the tall form, and handsome face
of the Caucasian, here sparsely represented in the pure
type of the fair-skinned Kashmiri, and his more swarthy
kinsman the Badakhshi, or in the transmission uninjured
of their special characteristics to the " Arghun " of their
alliance with the women of the land. Equally notable,
too, are the robust frames, and intelligent looks of the
now dominant people of the country — of the Uzbak
Tatar of Andijan, or of the " Chalgurt," the fruit of his
former intercourse here — in whom the superior combina-
tion of race types, derived from intermixture with the
Tajik, has lost nothing of its development by the re-
currence to its original Turk stock.

Such are the main family distinctions amongst the

RECEPTION IN THE CITY. 239

crowd of faces we here saw, taking the best as models,
for fully one-half of them were disfigured to a greater or
less extent by goitre, and a general sickly expression of
countenance, which last I afterwards found was due
more to the abuse of opium and bang than to the natural
sallow skin of the race.

We entered the city by the Altun Dabza, or " Gold
Gate," on its south side, and passing through a succes-
sion of streets to the left, here and there occupied by
rows of shops and private dwellings alternately, passed
out through the Cawughat Dabza, or " Melon Gate," on
the west side, into the tsinhai, or "public market," of
the Chinese time. It was a sort of military bazar, ex-
tending between the city and their fort, or mangshin,
the present Yangishahar, four hundred yards or so off
to the west, and was, as described to us, full of life and
business in the days of its prosperity. Its main street
always presented a gay scene, with the painted flags, and
shop signs of the Chinese merchants, who here sold
and bought and went away, whilst the restaurants, and
booths of the permanent settlers were always crowded
by visitors, and pleasure seekers from the city and
fort.

The scene of this former bustle and activity is now
represented by some miserably decayed little suttlers'
huts near the gateway. Beyond them, on the right,
are a dismantled hall of justice, and a preserved
mosque, both prominent objects from their size ; and in
rear of them is an open space used as a cattle-market,
and place of execution — the gallows, with gibbets for
three, occupying a prominent eminence at its higher end
— whilst in front they look across the road on to some
broken walls and heaps of ruins. Further on the space

24o KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

has been cleared, and enclosed on the right as a sarae
for the fort, but is left on the other side an open waste
on which rubbish is shot.

"We found no guards at either of the city gates we
passed through, except two or three men seated on the
ground, with their guns placed beside them. On enter-
ing the fort, over the drawbridge of its ditch, however,
we passed a guard-house, between the outer and inner
gates, in the verandah of which were seated some thirty
men, similarly equipped to those before described. No
two were alike in the showy patterns of their robes, but
all wore white turbans, and sat on their heels crossed
under them as motionless and silent as statues, with
their great prong-rest guns set before them in a row,
muzzle outwards, and with their swords lying across their
laps. Their hands were folded together in front, and
concealed by the overlapping of the sleeves, whose extra
length served the purpose of gloves. And as we rode by
some raised their eyes to look at us, but most kept
them steadily fixed on the ground before them, with a re-
spectful inclination of the head. On passing through the
inner gate, we had on our right a shed of gun-carriages,
and old pieces of cannon, a relic of the Chinese rule.
About the shed were about thirty artillerymen, all dressed
in an uniform of Turkey -red cloth — trousers, coat, and
cap all of the same material, but of inferior quality, and
bad fit. They were seated about the place in any fashion,
and took no notice of us as we passed, beyond surveying
us with upturned faces of surprise.

A short way farther on, between the walls of soldiers'
quarters on either side, and we alighted at the court of
the Eesidency which had been prepared for us. It was
the same that Mr Forsyth and his party occupied on the
occasion of their visit to this place in 1870, but had

VISIT TO THE DADKHWAH. 241

recently been enlarged by the addition of some new
rooms for our larger numbers, and was now comfortably
furnished with carpets, &c., in much the same fashion
as the quarters at Kargalik.

Immediately on arrival, though an hour had hardly
elapsed since we had done our duty by one at Zilchak,
a dasturkhwan of ninety-two trays of fruits and sweets
was borne in by as many soldiers, who nearly filled the
court, whilst, I don't know how many, dishes of cooked
food were spread on the verandah in front of the Envoy's
quarters. At the same time, one of the chief men
attached to the Dadkhwah's court, called on the Envoy
on the part of his master for the achmdng hdrmdng
(" May you not be hungry or fatigued"), or ceremonial
inquiry after health, &c., and it was arranged through
him that the Envoy should call on the Dadkhwah on the
morrow.

Meantime, as we were to stay here for the present, we
settled down in our quarters, and explored their limits ;
an investigation which gave us every reason for satisfac-
tion with the thoughtful arrangements made for our
comfort as the guests of the Atalik Ghazi. During our
stay here we received every attention from the officials
appointed to attend to our wants, and enjoyed perfect
freedom to visit the city and suburbs as we pleased.

Next day at two o'clock, the hour appointed, the
Yasawul-bashi having come over to conduct him, the
Envoy, attended by his staff in undress uniform, paid an
official visit to the Dadkhwah, whose residence was in a
sort of inner fort or citadel close by. It stood at the
end of the street in which was our Eesidency, and just
before it was an artillery guard over some six or eight
field-guns. The men were dressed in the red uniform
before mentioned, and stood at the attention behind

Q

242 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

their guns as we passed. The open space in front of the
gateway had for some reason been recently railed in, and
a cross-bar had been fixed across its entrance. This
last, however, was removed on representation, and we.
rode through without dismounting till we reached the
gateway. The guard stood up as we passed, and
Muhammad Ali, the eldest son of the Dadkhwah (and
Mahrambashi or " Head Page " in his court), receiving
the Envoy in the outer court, conducted him through
two others — the guards in each standing — to the audi-
ence-hall. Here the Dadkhwah came out to the ver-
anda, and received the Envoy very cordially. We were
all introduced in turn, and he then conducted his visitor
to a seat on the cushion at the top of the hall, where,
taking our seats in a line below them, we were soon at
ease on the cushion.

The audience -hall was an airy room, about sixty or
seventy feet long by twenty-five wide, and had four or
five windows looking on to the veranda. The ceiling
was painted in bright colours, and decorated with Per-
sian couplets. The floor was spread with Khutan car-
pets, and there was no other furniture in the room. After
the presents were brought in by our people the dasturkh-
wan of tea, and sweets, and bread, and fruits was
spread. On every ordinary occasion of a visit this form
of refreshment is observed. The cooked foods of our
past experience are served only on special occasions
as on the march, and are then intended as a dinner.
The tea was delicious, and had a peculiar rich aroma,
which was quite new to us. It was prepared without
milk, and this is undoubtedly the proper form for the
beverage. The Dadkhwah told us this tea came
through Russian merchants from Almati. It is now
very scarce in the country, and sells, if I recollect

HIS RECEPTION OF THE ENVOY. 243

rightly, at sixteen or eighteen shillings a pound. Some
of the Indian teas had found a market here, but they
have hardly had time to gain much favour, owing to
their very different flavour from what the people have
been habituated to. During our stay at Kashghar, the
Envoy presented some mule loads of Himalayan growth
which he had brought from India to Atalik Ghazi, but
his highness so little approved its quality, that he distri-
buted the whole of it amongst his officers and servants even
before we left the shadow of his court. The Dadkhwah
received us alone, and the Envoy's orderlies with some
of the court officials stood at the door with our camp
serjeant. He was in full Highland costume, with the
banner and ribbons of his pipes adding to the splendour
of his appearance. Our host glanced hastily at him
once or twice, but, to our surprise, made no observation.
We afterwards learnt that good taste had suppressed the
natural curiosity so strange a garb was calculated to
excite, for the Dadkhwah felt scandalised at the sight of
the bare knees, and reprimanded his yasawal-bashi for
having so hurried our toilet that one of our attendants
should appear in his presence without his trousers.

His extensive reading had not made the Dadkhwah
acquainted with the peculiarity of the " Garb of Gaul/'
and he learned something new by our visit. Muhammad
Yiinus, though without the wide experience of Haji Tora,
enjoys the reputation of being the most learned scholar
amongst the Andijan possessors of the country, and he is
certainly the best of their governors. He is a native of
Tashkand, where his brothers still resided when we were
at Yarkand, and was formerly the scribe of Atalik Ghazi
at the time he held the office of Mir — a post similar to
that of the Beg of Sanju, that is, governor of some petty
rural district — under the government of Mallah Khan.

244 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

When Atalik Ghazi, at that time CosKbegi Yacub Beg,
attached himself to the cause of the Capchac leader Alim
Culi, he got his secretary appointed to the court of the
new Khan as Shaghawal-bashi, or " chief comptroller" of
the officers charged with the duty of receiving guests
and foreigners. On the death of Alim Culi, in action
against the Eussians at Tashkand, and the restoration of
Khudayar Khan to the rule in Khocand, he fled the
country with a number of others who, in the revolutions
preceding the rise of Alim Culi, had taken the side
against both the Eussians and Khudayar, and with them
joined Atalik Ghazi at Kashghar shortly after he had
deposed his master, the Khoja Buzurg Khan, and seized
the government for himself.

Here his former master welcomed him back to his ser-
vice, and, relying on him as his most trusty and wise
counsellor, took him into favour, and appointed him to the
charge of the recently captured district of Yarkand, which
is a territory about the size, though not nearly so popu-
lous, as the Peshawar division, as Dadkhwah or " Gover-
nor of the first class," corresponding to our commissioner
of a division in the Panjab. The reputation acquired
by him in his former office has followed him here, and
he is generally styled Shaghawal Dadkhwah by his com-
patriots. During its first years his rule was one of very
sharp severity, and, if report does not exaggerate, the
gallows were always swinging with malefactors, till, in
fact, the place was cleared of evil-doers. At all events,
the citizens do not now show much sign of the turbulent
and litigious character usually assigned to them, though
they are still kept under a very strict police surveillance ;
and under the regime in force, the Dadkhwah conse-
quently may be considered a popular governor. To us
he is favourably known for the hospitable reception he

TURKISH BATU IN THE CTY. 245

gave to our travellers from Inda, and lie has done much
to cultivate the trade with India by conciliating treat-
ment of our merchants, without in any way abating
from the claims of the Shara\ or relaxing the severity of
the religious disabilities — such as the double rates of im-
post on Hindus, and other nonmuslims, prohibition of the
turban, riding on a saddled horse in the city, &c.

On the conclusion of this visit we called on Haji Tora,
who occupied a house immediately opposite our quarters,
and in the evening went with him to the city, where a
hammam had been got ready for our use. Some little
evasion was attempted on the part of the Dadkhwah's
officials, who did not appear willing that we should enter
their bath, but this difficulty was soon overcome by Haji
Tora, who sent one of his own servants to set matters
straight, and then accompanying our party, himself
joined us in enjoying the luxury. We were mainly in-
debted to the action of our friend in this matter for the
subsequent liberty of movement accorded to us during our
stay in this country of espionage and police restrictions,
the hardships of which Messrs Hayward and Shaw, and
the Eussian visitors before us, experienced more fully,
though only in the lightest form, compared with the lot
they would assuredly have met in Kabul.

Of course, the hammam was not completed without the
inevitable dasturkkwan, and we returned to our quarters
well satisfied with the success of the day's operations,
though, owing to the misunderstanding above alluded
to, the bath had not been heated as well as it should have
been to insure its proper enjoyment. It resembled those
in the city of Peshawar in every respect, and oddly enough
amongst the shampooers attached to it were two Afghans
of that place. One of these men claimed my acquaint-
ance, and told me all about my life on that frontier

246 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

with a correctness that surprised me. I gathered from
his garrulity that he came to Peshawar originally
from Kandahar, and that he found his way here two
years ago through Kabul and Badakhshan. It is asto-
nishing how these Afghans wander about. They over-
run India down to the Deccan as traders, and soldiers.
They are found in Turkey and Egypt, and are met at
Nijni Novgorod, and in the markets of Tehran and of
Bukhara. And of the extent of their wanderings in this
country, and perhaps into China, the fact that Atalik
Ghazi on arrival at Kashghar was joined by upwards
of a hundred of them will convey some idea. These
men, amongst others of their countrymen in the army
of the ruler of Khutan, were, it appears, scattered
amongst the cities of this region as traders at the time
of the Tungani rebellion, and on the appearance of the
Ghazi cast aside their money speculations for the prizes
and plunder of war, which for them, apart from their
natural predilections, was an incumbent duty as pro-
fessors of Islam.

In the zeal of their religious and military ardour they
enlisted under the banner of Atalik Ghazi, and were of
no small service in conducing to the success of his cam-
paigns ; but they have since found themselves netted in
a toil they at that time little reckoned on. They all,
in the course of their successive victories, took to them-
selves wives of the land, and for the most part they
were captives of war ; but on the establishment of the
captain of their band as independent sovereign of the
territory of his conquests, they found themselves the
subjects of a despot king, and not at all the noble
warriors for the faith, nor, in virtue of the character, the
free rovers over infidel rights, which they fancied them-
selves to be. On the conclusion of the war many of

AFGHANS IN KASHGAR. 247

these men sought leave to return to their homes, but
the ties of their Kashghar families proved cords that
bound them to the land more strongly than they can
break through. For the new ruler allows no woman to
leave the country of his acquisition, so thinned as it has
been of its male population by the recent massacres
and wars, any more than he allows her husband, or legal
protector, to abandon her as a burden upon the others.
These Afghan adventurers indeed have but small chance
of ever quitting this land of their forcible adoption, for
the ruler is as jealous of any man leaving his territory as
he is determined no woman shall ; whilst the summary
execution of captured runaways is enough to deter the
most enterprising from attempting to secure their liberty
by the evasion of the law.

Haji Tora, amongst other matters, explained this regu-
lation to the Envoy, before we entered the country, as a
guide for the conduct of any of our camp-followers who
might wish to lose their hearts to the fair ones of the land,
in order that they might be prepared to ]ose their liberty
also. " They may marry here if they choose/' he said.
" There is no prohibition. But if they do so, they must
settle here. They cannot go out of the country again with
you." Whether the charms of the fair Tatars were want-
ing in attraction, or whether the rule of Atalik Ghazi was
too powerfully deterrent, I will not pretend to decide. It
is a fact, however, that of more than a hundred followers,
Indian subjects, not one elected to transfer his allegiance,
even for such thrifty mates, and such orthodox rule, as are
the boast of Kashghar.

Both here, and afterwards at Kashghar, I opened a
charitable dispensary in the Eesidency premises, and
saw a good deal of the Afghans, in the service of the
Atalik Ghazi, who used to visit it. And from them,

248 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

in their own language, which was not understood by
those around, I got an insight into the state of affairs
in the country which, of course, was not to be looked
for from the Andijan officials appointed to attend us,
nor from the people of the country, for they were care-
fully kept away from us, or only permitted an interview
in the presence of their guardians.

The police system here, as we soon discovered, is a
most intricate network, and wrorked with a marvellous
secrecy which nobody understands, and everybody dreads.
As a consequence the people are silent and suspicious.
House to house visitation is discouraged in a peremptory
manner known to the governors, whilst private entertain-
ments are watched by their agents. The people see a
spy in every man they meet, and accost each other with
polite commonplaces, and courteous bows and curtsies
in place of conversation. They know their words and
actions are noted at every turn, and they conduct them-
selves accordingly. No traveller or merchant can move
from one place to another, or quit the country, without
a permit. And no subject can go from one town to
another without a passport. Nor can he leave the
country for trade, pilgrimage, or other business, without
giving a security. In fact the whole system is as per-
fectly organised as in the more civilised countries of
Europe where it still exists, and on much the same model,
and speaks much for the administrative talents of the
Atalik Ghazi, and his chief counsellor, the Dadkhwah of
Yarkand. And we had an experience of its working
very soon after our arrival under his protection in an
occurrence which revealed to us its mysterious network
of agents, and put us on our guard amongst our hosts
and friends.

CHAPTEE VIII.

DURING our stay in the Yangishahar or " New Town " of
Yarkand we availed ourselves of the facilities afforded to
visit the adjoining city, called Kuhna Shahar or " Old
Town," and study its peculiarities, and learn what we
could of its history. We saw it in the bustle and crowd
of its market days, and we walked its streets in the
emptiness and inactivity of their ordinary state, and
altogether we had fair opportunities of judging of its size
and population, its trade and manufactures.

Yarkand is one of the ancient cities of Tatary,
and was in remote times a royal residence of the Turk
princes of the Afrasyab dynasty. Of the origin of its
name I have met with no explanation, but, following
the track of Remusat, who traces Khutan to the Sanskrit
Kustana, I have ventured to hazard the derivation of
the name of this city from the same lingual source, to-
gether with those of several others in this territory whose
present orthography presents no such distinct derivation
from their Sanskrit forms as does the example above
mentioned. Their etymology can be traced to no original
source in the region where the names appear, and their
easy transformation without violence to Sanskrit forms,
coupled with the connecting link in the ancient history
of the country, seem to warrant their affiliation to the
source indicated. In this view Yarkand would be the
Tatar form of Hari Khand — " the dwelling of the Hari "
— whose name appears in other places in the form of

250 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Herat and Hari, Hari Chand near Peshawar, and Hari-
ana near Delhi. By its citizens the place is pronounced
Hyarkan, but is written Yarkand. The city shows no
traces of ever having covered much more ground than it
occupies at the present time, but appears to have been
merely the capital of the little sand-girt state in the midst
of which it stands ; now and again, in the revolutions of
time, rising to pre-eminence for a season as the seat
of authority over the other similar little states which
constitute its natural geographical territory in the basin
of the Tarini river.

"Wells Williams in his " Middle Kingdom/' on the
authority of Chinese chroniclers, if I recollect aright,
gives its walls a circuit of seventeen miles. It is in-
credible that the city could have ever attained such pro-
portions, for the country is incapable of supporting the
population of a city of such magnitude, unless indeed
its characters were formerly of a very different nature
to what they are now. It is more probable that this
measurement included the suburbs from which the city
derived the means of its support, because the present
Yarkand — urban and suburban, as a municipal district
separate from the territory over which it exercises im-
mediate jurisdiction — may be limited by such a circum-
ference.

From its position on the line of the ancient caravan
route from China to Turkey by way of Caratakin and
Badakhshan to Balkh, it formerly enjoyed considerable
importance, and was long the rival of Kashghar for pre-
eminence as the capital of the country. But the superior
situation of the latter on the direct and easier route by
Andijan, coupled with its importance as a strategic
position, at an early period, secured it the preference — a
distinction which it maintained more or less uninter-

HISTORY OF YARKAND CITY. 251

ruptedly from the time of the Arab ascendency to that
of the Mughal decline. Yarkand meantime held a
secondary importance, and now and then, as the anarchy
of the times afforded opportunity, rose to a short-
lived independence as a separate state, but does not
appear to have become the seat of government until
Ababakar Mirza made it the capital of his kingdom, the
limits of which were Acsu and Khutan on the east,
Atbashi and Isigh Kol on the north, Uzkand (now in
ruins), Ush and Madi, Jagrak, and the Bolor or Pamir
steppes to Wakhan on the west, and the Tibat plateaux
up to Caracoram on the south.

Ababakar greatly improved the city with noble man-
sions and gardens, and strengthened its fortifications by
a device which the author of "Tarikhi Kashidi " describes
as a novelty in the country. He protected each gate
of the city by an outwork thrown forward to the distance
of a hundred paces, and its peculiarity consisted in its
forming a lane of that length leading from the outside
to the gate. That is to say at a hundred paces in front
of the gate were built two round towers for archers, and
these were connected with the gate by parallel lines of
covered way from which the defenders could shower
their arrows upon the enemy assaulting the gate.

They proved so efficient against the arms of the period
that Yunus twice failed to take the city, though he
besieged it on each occasion with a vastly superior force.
Nothing now remains of these defences, though their
sites at each gate are marked by parallel rows of booths
and huts which extend to about their former length out-
side each. Of the city in Ababakar's time, the work I
have above cited gives the following particulars. The
walls, which had been rebuilt by Ababakar, enclosed an
area of 200 man, i.e., taking the man at fourteen pounds,

252 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR,

land requiring 2800 Ibs. of corn to sow it, and had six
gates protected as above described. One part of the
interior was walled off as the arg or citadel, in which
was the palace, and the rest was divided into twelve
parks or gardens, in each of which were the mansions of
the wealthy and about a hundred houses. In the exca-
vations and levellings necessary for these improvements,
the cdzuc or " prisoner gang" discovered a well of hid-
den treasure. Its value in jewels and money was so great
that Ababakar organised a systematic exploration of all
the ancient ruins in his territory, and realised an im-
mense wealth in precious gems and metals, and notably
from those of Khutan. The greater part of these was
plundered by the troops of Sa'id, but the most valuable of
his treasures Ababakar carried off in his flight to the
mountains, and they were ultimately cast away into the
torrents of the Yurangcash, and Caracash rivers. It was
this greed for unknown wealth which was the cause of all
his cruelties, and the sufferings of his victims in those
"treasure-searching gangs," which were named cdzuc7
after their resemblance to the " galley-slave " gangs of
Europe. The worst criminals, and the innocent victims
of his anger were alike, without distinction of crime or
sex, condemned to the cdzuc to swell the number of his
labourers.

The city was supplied with water by canals which
Ababakar led into it from the Yarkand river. Its
quality is praised as extremely good, and is considered by
the people as the best in the world. Its effects in pro-
ducing the goitre so prevalent here are not alluded to, nor
did I come across any passage in the book mentioning this
disease. And this, if not an oversight on my part, which
I don't think it is, is very remarkable. Because Mirza
Hydar is elsewhere so full and correct in his description

POLITICAL FACTIONS OF THE COUNTRY. 253

of the country generally. Yet the prevalence of this
disease at Yarkand is recorded as a special feature of its
climate by Marco Polo three hundred years before the
time of my author.

Ababakar is said to have laid out twelve thousand
gardens in Yarkand, but, as Sogholoc near Kashghar is
included amongst the number, the term must apply to
the whole territory of his government, and not merely
to the limits of his capital. The statement illustrates
the prosperity of the country under the dreadful tyranny
of his rule as dependent entirely on his own despotic will.
Of the power of this I shall have to record a remarkable
instance hereafter in the destruction of Kashghar.

On the conquest of the country by Sa'id, he continued
Yarkand as the capital, but his son and successor,
Eashid, removed his court to Kashghar, and restored
that city to its former rank as the capital of the country.
And it remained so till, in the anarchy which followed
his death, Yarkand contested the proud position. This
period is known as the Khoja usurpation, and the wars of
the Carataghluc and Actaghluc, or " Black Mountaineer"
and " "White Mountaineer " factions respectively.

Shortly after his accession to the throne in 1533 A.D.
Eashid allied himself with the Uzbak rulers to the west
of the mountains, and received a visit from the celebrated
divine of Samarcand Maulana Khoja Kasani (" our rever-
end lord of Kasan ' ') better known by his title of Makhdumi
al Azim (" My greatest Master"). This saintly priest was
received with proper reverence, and as a mark of his
devotion was granted a large estate in Kashghar. He
married a lady of the city, and left two sons at Kashghar,
named Khoja Kalan and Khoja Ishac. After the death
of their father, which occurred at Samarcand in 1542,
these two sons rose to prominence in the affairs of the

254 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

government and formed rival factions. The eldest son,
whose mother was a native of Samarcand, was supported in
his pretensions by the people of Yarkand and the Caratagh
to the west ; and the younger son, a native of the country,
by the people of Kashghar and Actagh to the north.

Their jealousies and contentions threw the country
into disorder, and dismembered it amongst the several
sons of Eashid, who, becoming independent in their
several little states, waged war against each other for
the supremacy. In the midst of this anarchy Khoja
Hidayatullah, more commonly called Hazrat Afac, who
succeeded as chief of the Actaghluc faction, made an
attempt to seize Kashghar. He was repulsed and driven
out of the country, but ultimately finding his way to Ila,
he there sought the aid of the Ghaldan or " ruler " of
Zunghar to establish him in the government his family
had ruined, and himself had failed to secure.

The Ghaldan marched an army to Kashghar and
annexed the country in 1678, and establishing the
Khoja as his governor at Yarkand as the capital, posted
his Calmac troops and officers in all the cities of the
territory. And thus the country remained for nearly a
century. The Calmac occupation was a purely military
tenure, the administration of the government being
left in the hands of Musalman officers chosen by the
Khoja in subordination to the Calmac officers appointed
from Zunghar. The system, as might have been pre-
dicted, led to endless contentions amongst the Khojas
(whose numbers seemed to multiply with the years)
themselves, and the Jieirs of the Khans whom they had
robbed of their rights, and consequently the rule of the
Calmacs was characterised by a series of campaigns to
restore order in the country they had seized from its
belligerent possessors.

TIME OF THE CHINESE RULE. 255

On the conquest of Zungliar about 1760 by the
Chinese, they acquired possession of Kashghar as an
appanage of the Ghaldan's possessions, and held the
country on precisely the same system that their prede-
cessors had done. They retained Yarkand as the capital,
and residence of the Khan Amban or "chief governor/'
subordinate to the Viceroy of Ila, to which Kashghar and
Zunghar were now attached as divisions of one provincial
go vernment, and they held the country by strong garrisons
planted in the cities of the several states composing the
territory. They left the internal government in the hands
of Musalman officers elected by the people, or appointed
by the Viceroy, and themselves merely looked to the
protection of the frontiers, and realisation of the revenue
by the maintenance of order and encouragement of com-
merce. Their government through the Musalmans, how-
ever, proved no more peaceable or profitable than that
of their Calmac coreligionists and predecessors with the
like agency, and the proud spirit of Islam, fretting under
the dominance of the infidel yoke, took advantage of the
tolerance accorded by the pagan to his subjects of what-
ever creed to raise no less than four serious insurrec-
tions in less than as many decades for the overthrow of
his hated rule — hated till it was lost, and then welcomed
by the rebels as preferable to that for which they had
rebelled.

The last of these revolts was under the leadership of a
refugee in Khocand — the Khoja Wali Khan, whom I shall
have to mention hereafter — and probably, so horrible were
his barbarities, would have been the last, even had not the
Chinese rule been overthrown by causes operating from
another direction. Khutan, Yarkand, and Kashghar,
were the states implicated in these revolutions instigated
by the Khojas, and they were the only ones that suffered

256 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

in the measures enforced for their suppression, measures
hardly less barbarous than those that called them forth.

Under the Chinese rule Yarkand appears to have been
the most flourishing city in the Kashghar territory, but
since the conquest of the country by Atalik Ghazi, and
the selection of Kashghar as his capital, it has greatly
declined in wealth and importance. And many years
must elapse before it can recover its prosperity, unless
the intolerance of the present Islam code is very much
relaxed in favour of unbelievers in its perfection. Of
this happily there are hopeful signs in the policy adopted
by the present ruler, and with the British merchant on
one side and the Russian on the other, his country may
yet, let us hope, become a free mart to the European,
and a pattern of enlightened government to his ignorant
and exclusive fellow-potentates of Central Asia. With
this fervent wish let us leave the doubtful future, and
turn to the records of the past.

For Yarkand, claiming our curious sympathy as the
seat of a Christian bishopric, and the residence of Marco
Polo in the thirteenth century, and as the shelter of
Benedict Goes in the seventeenth (as the wondrously
attractive pages of " Cathay, and the Way thither" tell
us), in recent years, has acquired a fresh interest for us
by reason of the Tungani rebellion, and that severance
of the country from Chinese rule, which have ended in
its conquest by a neighbouring tribe, and substituted
the friendly relations of the present possessors for the
exclusiveness of their predecessors.

Of the precise causes and exact course of this rebellion,
so disastrous in this region to the prestige of Chinese
empire, little is satisfactorily known. The movement
originated in Salar or Hochow, in the province of Kansuh,
at the time that similar hostilities_were waged by the

THE TUNGANI REBELLION. 257

Tayping in the north, and the Panthay in the south of
the empire ; and like those, it appears, was a religious
war for the subversion of Budhist. government by that
of Islam.

In Kansuh the Musalman Chinese, called Tungani,
rose against their Budhist brethren, called Khitay, and
massacring them seized the government for themselves,
and waged a successful war against the imperial troops.
Of these Tungani there were several thousands mixed up
with the Khitay in the different garrisons of Zunghar
and Kashghar. The successful action of their brethren
in the seat of their power immediately inspired them
with the like spirit of disaffection, and the flame of their
discontent very rapidly spread over all the territory
garrisoned by them.

So far as concerns Kashghar the wave of their revolt
rolled on from Khamil and Turfan northwards to
Orumchi and Manas, and westward along the caravan
route to Kucha and Acsu. Everywhere the rebels
enacted the same roll of massacre and plunder of the
Budhists, and then fell under the domination of Musal-
man priests of a sect different to their own, and despising
them as heretics. Those to the north and east of Cara-
shahr, to Turfan inclusive, passed under the rule, tem-
porary as it was, of Daud Khalifa, an aged Khoja of
Orumchi ; and those to the west, including Yarkand, but
exclusive of Kashghar and Khutan, passed under the
rule of Kashuddin or Eashiduddin Khoja of Acsu, which
he made the capital of his transitory kingdom.

So soon as Eashuddin, about the end of 1862, took the
control of affairs at Acsu, the Chinese Ambans, or gover-
nors, in the cities on the west, finding themselves cut off
from communication with their headquarters at Ila, im-
mediately shut themselves up in their forts, and separ-

K

258 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

ated themselves from their Tungani comrades, whom
they kept under surveillance ; whilst the Khan Amban
at Yarkand, as chief governor at the capital, devised
means to disarm them. He was too late. The Acsu
emissaries had already reached them, and the sus-
pected Tungani, informed of the Amban's scheme to
disarm them, forestalled his intention by a night attack
upon the fort, and the massacre of 2000 of their for-
mer comrades with their families. In the morning they
rushed into the city, raised the populace, and before
nightfall left the streets full of Khitay corpses, and their
shops plundered of their contents. Many escaped to
the suburbs, and others, mostly women and children,
found shelter in the cellars of benevolent Musalman
neighbours. Within a few days the example of Yarkand
was followed by Khutan and Kashghar. At the former
place, an old priest, named Haji Habibulla, who had
lately returned from the pilgrimage to Mecca, took the
lead in affairs with his son Abdurrahman Khoja, and, on
the latter's death in action against the Acsu troops,
assumed independent authority as king, with the title of
Haji Habibulla Padshah. At Kashghar the city was de-
fended by the Chinese Musalman governor, who called
in the aid of the Kirghiz chief Sadie Beg, but he and
his crew proved such villanous ruffians that they were
ousted, and then, failing to recover the city, Sadie sum-
moned a Khoja from Khocand, as will appear hereafter.
Meanwhile, in Yarkand, the people recovering from the
shock of the bloody tumult raised by the Tungani set
up their chief priest, Hazrat Abdurrahman, as king, and
elected a fellow-citizen, Nyaz Beg, as his prime minister,
for the maintenance of order, and the organisation of
a force, with the Tungani as the nucleus, to capture the
Yangishahr held by the Khitay.

INTERIOR OF THE CITY. 259

They besieged and assaulted the place for three months
with little success, and then some Kucha and Acsu
Khojas arriving with a large army they renewed their
efforts with redoubled energy. It took them another
three months, however, before they reduced the garrison
to straits. Finally the Amban, finding their mines had
sapped the outer walls, blew himself and family up with
the palace, and the soldiers immediately firing the pow-
der magazines, the whole garrison perished in the ruins.

The Acsu Khojas now claimed the victory, and the
government of the place as servants of the king Kash-
uddin. The citizens objected, and finally the govern-
ment was divided between Abdurrahman in the city, and
the Khoja Burhanuddin with the Tungani and Acsu
troops in the fort. And so it continued till Atalik Ghazi
came to demand the submission of the Khoja to his
master Buzurg, as the Khan Khoja, or " lord para-
mount." His attempt on this occasion to take the place
by stratagem failed, and he was forced to retreat with
the loss of his camp. His second attempt proved more
successful. And Nyaz Beg, for his services in delivering
the place to him/was taken into favour, and subsequently
appointed Dadkhwah of Khutan, which soon after fell
into the possession of Atalik Ghazi by an act of treach-
ery, and butchery to extermination, which is not a soli-
tary blot on the character of his conquest of this terri-
tory, as Acsu, and Kucha, and Turfan can tell.

Since the establishment of the new rule, the place has
enjoyed peace ; and order, whatsoever the character of
the means employed, has been established with won-
derful security. Under the government of its present
Dadkhwah, violent crime is now almost unknown, and
trade, seeking markets in new directions since the com-
plete closure of its former channels, is encouraged as an

260 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

absolute necessity, if not for the people, for their
rulers at least.

The city, like those of Central Asia generally, is
built of raw bricks and clay, and wears an untidy look,
from the state of disrepair in which its fortifications
are left. It lies low on the plain, in the midst of
wooded suburbs, and presents no features of attraction
to the stranger approaching it. The walls are of an
irregular trapezoid shape, with their length from north
to south, and are entered by five gates — namely, the
Altun Dabza, or " Gold Gate," on the south ; the Cawu-
ghat or " Melon/' on the west ; the Terabagh, or " Hide
Garden," on the north-west ; the Musci, or "Poisoner"
(from some former chief having been so disposed of here),
on the north-east; and the Khancah, or "Monastery," on
the east. They are very massive, and supported at inter-
vals by turreted bastions, whilst along the top runs a
parapet of loopholed walls. There is no ditch, and the
height of the walls is very much lessened by the debris,
which forms a sort of glacis slope to near the top in
some parts, so as to render their scaling a matter of no
difficulty.

In the interior arrangement of the city the streets and
houses are crooked and irregular, as those of Oriental
towns generally are, but they possess a peculiarity I have
seen nowhere else in Central Asia ; that is, they here and
there open on to small squares occupied by tanks, on the
sides of which grow fine silver poplars, and willows.
They are the source of water supply to the citizens, and
being open are in no way protected from the filth and
dust of the streets. At the same time may be seen a
woman washing her soiled linen at one side, and a man
filling his 'kapok or " calabash " (a hollowed gourd) at
the other ; whilst its bottom is black with the decayed

VARIETY OF ITS INHABITANTS. 261

leaves, quantities of which are seen floating on its surface,
and the deposit of dust, &c., blown into it by the wind.
There are said to be upwards of a hundred of these tanks
in the city. Some are fed by constantly-running canals,
but most are fresh filled every third or fourth day. But
in winter when the canals are frozen, and hence the
raison d'etre, they are unchanged for two or three
weeks at a time. There are several wells in the city,
but their water is considered very unwholesome, and
they are consequently rarely used.

The private dwellings in their exterior have a look
of neglected disrepair, and the shops in the bazars and
main streets are mean compared with those of an Indian
city of the same class, owing possibly to the inferior
materials of their architecture. In its general aspect the
interior of Yarkand may be likened to that of Kandahar
though it has neither the regular form of the fortifications
of that city, nor any bazar like its Charsu. But like it,
this city is built of clay, is situated on a plain, is watered
by canals, and is surrounded by garden suburbs. In these
respects it resembles Mashhad too, though it is not to
be compared with that city in point of size, elegance,
wealth, or population.

By population I mean numbers only ; for in outward
appearance there is not so great a difference between the
people of Yarkand and those of Mashhad as there is be-
tween them and those of Kandahar. In the last-named
city, the Tatar cap and boot, as much as the Tatar phy-
siognomy, are not known amongst the handsome Aryan
features and elegant turbans of the people thronging its
bazar. But in the other, both the physiognomy and
the dress mingle in the mixed crowd of its shady Khi-
yaban, or are found in distinct groups in its spacious
caravanserais.

262 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

And here the similitude ends ; for in manners and do-
mestic life, as in language and religious belief, the diver-
gence is greater, though not without a social or family
link of connection common to the two. The asperity of
the Tatar face, which at Mushhad is seen softened down
almost to a European stamp of complexion and features,
is here found in its varied forms, from the pure bred
Manchu to the mongrel Turk, all mingled together. The
last constitutes the rural population of the country, and
on market-days is found in the city crowding its alleys
to impassability, and completely transforming its appear-
ance for the ten or twelve hours of daylight. To the
traveller coming from India, and mixing in the scene, the
change is complete, and he almost fancies himself in some
country town of Eastern Europe. In place of the dark
skins, lithe forms, and airy drapery on the south of the
passes, he finds a people of so light a complexion that an
Indian in their crowd shows like a black sheep in the fold ;
he sees bulky frames that do not lose in height what they
gain in breadth ; and his eyes meet, in place of the delicate
folds of muslin and gauze, or the close shapes of calico
and print, the loose robes of buckram and frieze, or the
capacious wraps of bold-coloured silks and heavy fur.

He will observe, doing their marketing, groups of
women with rosy complexions and comely features, who
will remind him — they did me of a market scene I wit-
nessed some years ago in Buda Pesth — of what he has
seen nearer home, if he come from mid-Europe. He will
not fail to note how European is their gait and deport-
ment, and, may be, he will recognise familiar forms in
their dress. At all events, the low curtsy with which a
passing friend is greeted, and his low bow of acknow-
ledgment in return, will not be the least of the links that
he will find of familiar home customs.

INTERIOR OF A RESTAURANT. 263

If lie respond to the loud, sharp, business-like invite
of " mine host " of the restaurant, he will enter a small
cabaret, in which there is everything but the liquor.
He will take his seat at the table with others on the
bench, which might have been made by an English
carpenter for any difference perceptible in it, and before
he has had time to admire the handsome china bowls,
or the well-known " willow-pattern " plates, and the
novel porcelain spoons, or to scan the contents of the
dishes before him, or yet to notice the undisturbed com-
posure of his neighbours as they ladle away their bowls
of soup, or finger their portions of pilao, he will be at-
tended by a veritable waiter, napkin on arm, and as glib
with his " tacsir " as is his English confrere with his " yes-
sir." There are soups of vermicelli, maccaroni, and other
forms of paste, which one might naturally have looked
for at a French or Italian table, but not expected here.
There are stews, and ragouts, and messes of rice, mutton,
and vegetables, all boiled together in curds and whey,
or in their own soup. There are joints of mutton, beef,
and horse, both roast and boiled — not torn with the
fingers as in Afghanistan, but carved with the knife.
There is pastry of all sorts, meat pies and jam pies, and pies
of mince. There are puddings, too, in variety, but none
so filling as the cakes of simple dough and fat ; and
amongst them there is the zanbosa, or " lady's kiss/'
that baked pasty — tell-tale of Tatar taste in Andijan
whence they come — redolent of onion and garlic, and
crammed with odds and ends of gristle and fat ; and
there is its counterpart the mantu or "You and I,"
the pasty cooked by steam, and like the other, special
favourite of the Andijani. Finally, there are salads of
carrot, radish, and onion chopped fine, and cress and
mustard in the leaf.

264 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

He will eat his fill, and pay his five or six pence for an
excellent dinner without comment or objection from a
soul, and may issue to elbow his way through the jostl-
ing crowd in search of other surprises. He will find other
similar little establishments, table and kitchen all in one
room, full of hungry peasants who have done their bar-
tering, or merely come for a holiday dinner ; and if he
inquires, he will learn that the same busy scene is repeated
here every Monday and Thursday, when the country
comes and dines in town. He will also be told that
formerly in these shops there used to be various other
dishes of dog, cat, and rat dressed to suit the Chinese
palate ; but these, with the pig, and ass, are now prohi-
bited under Islam as unlawful, together with the religion
that in the midst of plenty could prefer such diet ; and
that with them went the spirits and other liquors which
formed a chief attraction at these eating-houses ; and that
their place is now held uncontested by the chaigun, and
what here now passes for tea.

In his tour through the bazars he will find the but-
chers' and bakers' shops as crowded by country pur-
chasers as are the drapers' market and the stalls where,
on these busy days, boots, and hats, and ready-made furs,
and other clothes are exposed for sale ; and he will see
that cotton (yarn and cloth), with poultry, corn, and
%live stock, are as ready mediums of exchange as the
more convenient though less abundant coin.

If he turn out of the crowd to take his way by the
less frequented streets to the cattle market outside the
Cawughat gate, he will find there a jostling crowd similar
to that he has just left ; and as in the city, so here, he will
find as many mounted as on foot, and as many sight-
seers as purchasers. He will see horses exchanged for
cows, or cows for sheep, or, may be, a Calmac youth for

MARKET-DAY AND WEEK-DAY. 265

a fur coat, or a Khitay girl for a silk robe, or vice versa,
and each or all he may also see sold for money. And
on the open spaces in the crowd surging about over the
uneven ground, or at the corner of some house, he will
find the bacsioi " minstrel," guitar in hand, accompany-
ing the soft strains of his voice with the music of its
cords for the entertainment of the group of admiring rus-
tics gathered round him. Or he will see, as he did in
the city, some sage old fortune-teller seated in a retired
corner with his confiding boor, and with each throw of
the dice increasing the wistful expectancy of his client's
looks by a solemn consultation of the pages of his astro-
logical calendar, which he opens deliberately with a pre-
liminary adjustment of the spectacles, and closes with
reverence, keeping a finger always between the pages of
last reference.

In all the dense crowd, of perhaps eighteen or twenty
thousand men and women, jumbled together on foot or
on horseback, he will hear a hum of voices, but no dis-
cord or disturbance will he see, and before sunset he
will find the streets empty; 'and so they will remain
till next market-day. If the reader will accompany me,
we will visit the city together on one of its quiet days,
attended, of course, by the cicerone appointed by the
Dadkhwah, an official who shows his devotion to his
master by hovering about our door to follow us like &t
shadow the moment we step beyond, except that his
voice and presence are such provoking realities.

Mounting our horses, for everybody here with any
pretensions to respectability rides, we set out after break-
fast, and passing out of the close walls of our residency,
emerge into the main street leading from the fort gate
to the Orda or " Court/' the palace of the Dadkhwah.
We turn to the left and make for the gate, a couple of

266 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

hundred yards or so to our front. On the way we
encounter a group of horsemen who, our attendant in-
forms us, are soldiers just returned from a tour of service
on the Turfan frontier, and they are now going to pay
their respects to the governor, who will hold a court for
their reception at noon.

They are Capchac and Uzbak warriors from Andijan,
fine soldierly fellows, wearing an air of conscious supe-
riority, and as they pass look us full in the face with an
expression of mingled curiosity and goodwill. We ob-
serve their gaudy-coloured robes, presents in lieu of pay
on their furlough ; and the richly embroidered silk saddle-
cloths of some of them, samples of the plunder on the
frontier.

We pass out of the gate — its guard seated in the verandah
of their guard-room just as we always find them, and
motionless and silent as blocks of wood — on to the open
space which, at its further end, conducts through a wide
street of booths to the city gate facing us at about five
hundred yards to the east. Here we find a number of
ragged Chinese converts — the Yangi Musalmans of to-day,
the Khitay of a few years ago— hanging about to do odd
jobs for the soldiers, or any passer-by ; to hold a horse,
or go a message, or carry a bundle. They are not all
of this place, but include amongst them the captives
of war from the towns to the eastward as far away as
Orumchi and Manas. How they live nobody knows, ex-
cept that they sleep in the stables, and outhouses of the
barracks, and are passed as drudges from the possession
of one soldier to that of another.

There is one of them carrying a tray of sweetmeats
and biscuits supported by a cord round the nape, and
selling them for the baker who employs him. His best
customers are his own brethren, whose coppers he collects

A ROUND OF THE SHOPS. 267

as soon as earned ; for with, them he only deals for cash.
From him our attention is attracted by the long tresses of
a woman we are overtaking on the road. They are braided
into two substantial plaits of glossy black, which hang
down the back, and taper to points nearly reaching the
heels. She looks up at us as we pass, and we see an
unveiled face of almost pink complexion, and strongly-
marked Tatar features of no very great claim to come-
liness. She wears a rouoad cap of silk brocade, with a
deep border of otter-fur, and, though the air is freezing,
displays a white muslin mantle over the quilted cloak
covering her under shift. Her feet are cased in boots of
shagreen, decorated with silk embroidery worked in bright
patterns of yellow and red, whilst their upper part is con-
cealed by the similarly decorated legs of loose pantaloons.
She is a native of the country, and wife of an Andijan
soldier, and is, in full dress, going to visit a neighbour
hard by. We go on, and entering the gate encounter
two matronly dames astride their donkeys coming out.
They are enveloped in loose over- cloaks of glazed indigo
blue cotton, and are propped insecurely on their steeds
just like a bundle of clothes, except that a long brown
boot hangs on each side, and a face shows above with
the veil thrown back over the top of the round hat.

The worthy ladies are evidently shortsighted, and we
are not distinguished till close upon them. Their in-
stinct of propriety produces a sudden effort to veil the
faded beauty of bygone years, and its violence upsets
one of them on to the ground. A snuffseller sitting on
the side of the passage, with his stock of the coarse green
powder piled in little heaps on a tray beside him, jumps
up, and, raising the fallen dame to her feet, hustles her
into a side passage, with voluble upbraiding for so far

268 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

forgetting the modesty of the sex as to essay the passage
occupied by foreign men.

We proceed, and passing a row of six or seven open
stalls on each side — the shops of grocers, fruiterers, lock-
smiths, tobacconists, &c., turn off to the right to visit
the boot and hat market. The first few houses are open
stalls for the sale of meat, vegetables, fruits, &c., with a
baker's and a cook's shop. Beyond are the blank mud
walls, and battered doors of private dwellings. The street
is almost empty, and its dirt, and the decay of the walls,,
are noticed in the absence of the concealing crowd of
market-day.

The doors are almost all open, and seated inside, or
immediately outside, we see the gudewife with her chil-
dren. She is stitching a shirt or working embroidery,
and they are toddling about in boots nigh as big as
themselves, or busy with mud pies. At some of the
doors are seen young girls plying the needle, and in
others — and many of them — is set the beshic or " rock-
ing cradle " with its little occupant rolled up in swad-
dlings and corded like a mummy. The infant is set out
to sleep in the open air, and lies on a mattress, but has
no coverlet. The mattress is provided with a round
hole in its centre, and, by a very ingenious and peculiar
device, the occupant is protected from the risks of wet
linen freezing about the person. The instrument is
called shumac and is made of wood in the shape of a
common tobacco-pipe, and is seen for sale in the shops
hung up in strings by the gross. We pass a doorway
within which are seen two horses turning an oil-mill,
and alight to examine it. It is exactly similar to those
used in the Panjab, and occupies a shed something like
a stable. A man attended by three youths, who take

CRADLE LIFE OF TATAR BABIES. 269

it in turn to serve the mill, tells us the linseed is all
grown in the country, and is the only source of their
oil, whilst the cake is a nourishing addition to the
winter fodder of their cattle. A little way on we turn
out of this unfrequented street to the left, and where
it branches off find a soldier armed with the prong-rest
gun of his country standing on sentry. He looks down
three avenues, and is quite alone, and on foot. A few
steps in our turn bring us to one of the many kol or
"tanks" of this city. The road goes on two sides of
it, and on the others are private houses, whose courts
open on to it. Its surface is frozen two or three inches
thick, but broken at the sides for the people to draw their
daily supplies. Through the open doors of the courts we
see as we pass a horse and two cows tethered in one, and
in another we see the family at work cleaning cotton of its
seeds by means of the chighric. This is a gin formed of
two rollers fitted close one above the other upon a wood
frame which is of two different kinds. In both the
upper roller is of wood, and the lower of iron ; and they
are turned together in the same direction by a three -
toothed cog, which in the one is worked by a crank
handle, and in the other by an eccentric wheel revolved
by a foot-board. The old man, seated on a high stool,
works the latter, and his more youthful partner, squatted
on the ground, the other. The cotton is held in between
the rollers on one side, and passes out at the other by
their revolution, leaving its seeds behind. Beyond, we
see a group of men round a farrier's shop, the most
notable part of the surroundings of which are the paral-
lel bars, such as one sees in a gymnastic yard. He
is shoeing the horse belonging to one of his customers,
whilst three or four others are waiting their turn. The
farrier is an old Chinaman by birth, a new Musalman

2yo KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

by force. He has lost his tail with his liberty, and
changed his national dress for that of the Tatars of the
place. But spectacles are not, luckily for him, included
in the long list of things prohibited by the intolerant
Islam of the present regime, and consequently their great
round discs of crystal stand upon each cheek, on either
side the nose as bridge, by a brass handle connecting them,
and supporting them by a projecting arm against the fore-
head. His instruments and apparatus are, like himself,
of Chinese introduction, and, by their peculiarity, claim
attention. So we stop to watch his operations.

His restive subject is reduced to quiet submission by
being slung off the ground between the parallel bars
which stand at the side of the street in front of the
shop, whilst his hoofs are treated in turn at leisure.
The old shoes and nails are removed by pincers, and the
hoof pared and levelled by a coarse rasp. No knife
or cutting instrument is used. New shoes are then
adjusted, and secured by nails driven home with a
hammer, and finally the feet are rested on a block,
and the projecting nails are blunted off by a long stick
tipped with iron. This is used standing upright with a
hammer applied to the upper end. The horse is now
set free from the sling, and another takes his place.

We go on, and enter the bazar. It presents a quiet
scene, with few people moving about, and several of the
shops closed. The stalls which we found on market-day
so full of furs, and hats, and boots, and so overflowing
with animation are quite empty, and the ovens of the
pastry-cook are without their fire. So dismounting we
make over our horses to the grooms riding behind, and
turn back to go down the length of the bazar, whose
roadway is covered by a loose thatch of reeds, and
withies by way of protection from the summer's sun.

RUSSIAN COVERS AND ENGLISH INTERIORS. 271

On either side is a long raised platform, on the divisions
of which are displayed in baskets, and wood trays, the
wares of the shop behind each. They are now open to
the street, but at sunset will be closed by shutters of
broad boards, and the passage door at one side will be
the entrance to the house behind it. During daylight
the owner sits amongst his stock, wrapped up in the
capacious folds of his loose bundles of clothes, his head
bowed dreamily under the weight of his turban, till
some customer rouses him from his reverie.

Here is a general dealer encased in a succession of
choghas, or, as they are here called, juba, the many
layers of which swell him out to the proportions of a
dropsical giant. He has a store of cheap hand-mirrors,
and clasp-knives, lucifer-boxes, and bottles of scent, and
he has painted little cardboard boxes full of beads, and
buttons of coloured glass of all shapes and sizes, and
packets of needles, which, like all his other wares, are
wrapped in Kussian covers, and bear Eussian labels,
though, as in this particular case of the needles, the
inner cover sometimes tells of English origin. He has
the shumac hung by the gross upon strings, and he has
ready-made plaits of hair, which explain the length of
the tresses we admired on the fair Tatar we overtook at
the outset of our excursion. He has cotton print hand-
kerchiefs of bright patterns, and others of more prac-
tical purpose, with the map of Kussia, and her railways,
stamped in clear lines upon it.

His neighbour is a druggist, and the platform in front
of his shop is covered with a close array of baskets, and
bags propped open by their contents, which are bordered
by the openings rolled up as a rim. They are mostly
Indian drugs and spices, such as caraway and cardamum,
cinnamon and ginger amongst the latter, whilst amongst

272 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

the former are senna and long pepper, and the nuts of
the emblic and water-lily, with those of the strychnos
nux vomica. This last is seen in quantity in all such
shops, and is in general use in the form of decoction as
a tonic and restorative in cases of dyspepsia, produced
by the abuse of opium and bang. Amongst his stock of
indigenous products are the flower-buds of an artemisia
called tuTchm, and used as a hair wash, and the toghraghu,
which is a fungus decay of the bark of the poplar of the
desert, and is used in powder as a ferment in baking,
and also as a cataplasm for wounds and boils.

The druggist, besides dispensing his drugs, prescribes
their use, if the purchaser so desire, for in this country
medical science has no professed practitioners, and every-
body is his own doctor. His scales and weights are of
Chinese origin and names. The latter consist of neat
little brass cubes with a Chinese stamp of their values,
and the former of the ordinary double scale balance.
But he uses more frequently for the less bulky substances
another form of weighing machine also of Chinese make.
It consists of a single scale, and horizontal beam balance.
It is poised by a cord a little on one side of the attach-
ment of the pan, and the weight slides backwards and
forwards on a graduated scale marked on the beam.

We pass on amongst similar shops, and stop to look
at that of an ironmonger. His stock consists of shovels,
and mattocks, and locks, sticks of bar iron, chains and
hooks, and odds and ends of all sorts, bridle bits and stir-
rups. He has also an assortment of crude minerals in
wood trays. There is salt in flat cakes as gathered on
the desiccated pools of the desert. It requires a formal
introduction, so completely have its impurities disguised
its identity. There are massive crystals of alum, and
sulphate of copper, and sal ammoniac, all from the vol-

THE IRONMONGER 'S SHOP. 273

canic region of Acsu, and lumps of yellow ochre from
the same locality. There are nuggets of antimony from
China. They are wrapped in paper packets, and, in
place of the bright metallic lustre of the native ore, pre-
sent a black appearance, cast in small moulded shapes,
as if prepared for immediate use ; and their fitness for
which is evidenced by their staining the fingers in
handling, as well as the paper that covers them.

Our friend of the shop bears the name of his trade,
and is called Timurchi, " Ironmonger." He is rough and
hard in appearance and manner as the rusty wares and
crude stores he presides over. He answers our questions,
always looking across our shoulders at the cicerone be-
hind us, and with a betrayed air of hesitation. " You
say this alum comes from Badakhshan ? They told us
in a shop higher up that it came from Acsu." My
remark was altogether unexpected, and Timurchi, in his
precipitation, replied, " So it does. Everybody knows
it comes from Acsu." But his confusion was covered
by the adroit interposition of its cause, who stepped
forwards, and, pretending to examine a lump he had
taken in his hand, exclaimed, " Yes. But the best kind
comes from Badakhshan, and is what all the tanners and
dyers here use."

With this sample of our guide's duplicity we will
leave this bazar, and make for the cloth market. We
pass by a detour through two or three winding alleys,
with solitary passengers here and there stepping their
way mid street, and see nothing more noticeable than
the mangy, wolfish dogs snoozing on the roadside dung
heaps, too lazy to do more than snarl as we pass, and
the numbers of children about the doorways, amusing
themselves with infantile predilection in the dirt of the
gutters. In a wider part of the road the lofty portals

274 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

of an ancient building in the Arabic style of architec-
ture, and overtopping all the surrounding dwellings,
attracts attention on account of its masonry and tiles in
the midst of mud walls. It is a madrassa or " college,"
and is one of twenty-eight or thirty similar establish-
ments in this city. Across the court, and opposite to the
gate is the mosque, and on each side of it is a row of
eight or ten chambers, the quarters of divinity students,
for only the doctrine of Islam is taught within its walls.
The students come out of their cells to survey the in-
truder, but his guide is sufficient guarantee of his pro-
tection, and no sign of objection is observed. They are
about thirty in number, and most of them are men of
mature age who, though perhaps rich in theological
lore, are very poor in worldly store. They here find a
happy asylum, and are enabled with their families to
stave off the hardships of poverty as pensioners on the
charity of the establishment endowed by some pious
muslim of a by-gone age for the support of necessitous
students. A small gold piece is gratefully accepted by
the Shekh, and his pupils, repeating with him a benedic-
tion on the bestower, stroke their beards in concert to
the " Amen " as we pass out to resume our tour.

Passing along a quiet street in which a shop or two
here and there interrupts the line of walls of private
dwellings, a lively hum of voices proceeding from one of
them excites a natural inquiry. " That's a maktab"
responds our guide. So we gently push open the door
we find ajar, and enter to inspect the school. It is a low-
roofed " tween deck " sort of saloon ranged with forms
on each side a central alley, up and down which an assis-
tant tutor, cane in hand, paces, flipping an idle boy now
on one side, and now on the other between the turns of
his short beat. On a low platform inside the door at

INSTITUTIONS OF THE CITY. 275

one side sits the master with all the importance of grave
looks and spectacles ; and around him are seated the
most advanced pupils, some six or eight boys of from
fourteen to eighteen years of age. They are reading
Persian books, and writing from dictation.

The room is cram full of children, and its atmosphere
stifling ; and, though only about twenty-four feet by six-
teen, it contained upwards of fifty children (we counted
fifty- eight) disposed on the forms, and in two small
galleries like bunks under the roof on each side. Our
entrance produced no cessation of the din of voices gab-
bling over the creed, and first principles of Muhammadan
belief; on the contrary, encouraged by our attention,
the active little creatures swayed their bodies and voci-
ferated with increased energy, and it required a vigorous
flourishing of the cane to stop the mechanical repetition
of lessons once set agoing.

The children were mostly very young, from six or
eight to ten years of age, and had a wonderfully European
look with their fair rosy complexions. On one side were
two forms, and a gallery occupied by about twenty little
girls. Some of them were very gentle little souls, with
innocent features of the fairest pink and white ; and they
looked very pretty in their round fur hats, and white
frocks, and neat boots. Some pennies (or the coppers
that represented them) distributed amongst them elicited
just the signs of delight one witnesses amongst school
children at home.

We go on our way, and meet a knife-grinder trundling
his wheel, and announcing his calling to the exact tune of
him of England. He is to all appearance the same being,
the machine is identical, and the call absurdly like. But
for the other surroundings one might fancy himself in
some by-way of London. And to complete the illusion,

276 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

here comes the pie-man wheeling his barrow, and call-
ing his customers with what for the sound may well be,
"Come buy! Come buy ! Pies hot — pies cold ! Pies
new — pies old." His whole get up, cart and all are
strange reminders of home scenes in this distant clime,
and even the pies he sells are not so different from those
of the old country.

We enter the cloth market, a long row of shops on
either side a winding street which is roughly roofed in
with a spread of reeds and maize straw for shade, and
find the best and richest bazar in the city. Here are
shops of all sorts, and merchants of different kinds.

Here is an Andijani cutler. His floor counter is
covered with sheath knives by the hundred, all bright
and sharp as a razor ; his shelves are full of brass and
iron-plated flint and steel cases of which the leather is
nigh concealed by the metallic ornament; whilst his walls
are hung with bundles of knife sheaths and leather belts
of strong buff. .

Then we stop at a draper's. Its owner, a Kashmir
emigrant, or an Arghun — his descendant by a mother of
the country. He has a rich stock of cotton prints,
calicos, and chintzes, with the coloured silks of Khocand
and of Khutan displayed in folded lengths on his boards,
or hanging in pieces from cords stretched across between
the posts that support his shop verandah. He can pro-
duce at a few minutes' notice from the recesses of his
store flowered muslins, and brocades of silk or gold,
satins and velvets, and broadcloths, and will point to
the English marks on the stuffs as proof of their superior
excellence.

There are several similar shops, and in few are the
Kussian trade-marks seen, though the fabrics of that
country are stored in most of them in the form of coarse

RELICS OF CHINESE OCCUPATION. 277

cottons of patterns in vogue amongst this people. Our
Kashmiri or Arghun, as the case may be, greets us with
a smiling countenance, and, with the pronunciation
peculiar to his people, explains in fluent Hindustani
all we wish to know, besides all he wishes to tell us of
his loyal feelings, and his own special pleasure in seeing
us here.

Even the rough Afghans, who hang about his shop to
while away the weary days till their caravan gets the
permit to march, join him in welcoming our presence as
the presage of better times in store for all ; whilst the
Sikh from the Panjab, who here disposes piece-meal of
the venture he has brought over the passes, considers
himself as one of ourselves, and metamorphosed as he is
in the costume of the country, salutes us as old friends
in the deferential style of his people, and is proud to dis-
play his acquaintance with the king's guests on the scene
of his daily chaffering.

Amongst others, we stop to overhaul a second-hand
clothes mart, a sort of pawnbroker's and old curiosity
shop combined. Here is a medley of all sorts of things
appraised at chance prices apparently from day to day
by the snuffy and goitrous Yarkandi who lives amongst
them. There are patched sheepskin coats, and quilted
cotton cloaks renovated by a fresh dyeing. There are
old bits of china, cracked violins, and an American
clock that does not figure. There are bits of jade amu-
lets, and charms, and mouth-pieces for pipes of the
same mineral, with great beads of agate and crystal,
all of very inferior quality and no better price. There
are Chinese chop -sticks and fans, and writing-cases, spec-
tacles, purses, and ear-cases edged with fur. There are
also Chinese cloaks of costly fur, and rich silk robes em-
broided in grand designs of dragons and flowers, with

278 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

mantles of linen gauze artistically woven in varied pat-
terns, and, in great diversity, many other relics of the
late rulers — all now becoming scarce curiosities, and dis-
appearing from the scene of the revolution which trans-
ferred them from the possession of their owners to the
hands of the rabble plunderers ; from which they have
filtered through different channels to the shop before us,
and are all more or less stained, and worn, and injured,
in token of the rough usage and varied fortunes they
have experienced.

We turn off out of the bazar, to work our way home-
wards, after an inspection of one of its book-shops. The
volumes are mostly Turki manuscripts on religious sub-
jects, but amongst them there are some lithographed
books on medicine, history, and theology, and all in Per-
sian from India. We search in vain for any historical
records of the country, or for any native literature in
poetry or in prose. Such works do exist, but are sacredly
guarded in the monasteries attached to the many shrines
of the country, or are concealed in the possession of pri-
vate individuals.

As we proceed we come to a group of men and boys
around a party of dancing dervishes. The rogues brave
the cold in their tatters, and drown care in the wild song
of their calling, and free life of their selection. They
wear a high-peaked conical hat with a bushy edging of
fur, and carry a leopard, or antelope, or other skin hang-
ing on the back. Swung in front from the neck is the
beggar's trough, and in the hand is a stout club, or an
iron mace set with jingling rings. This last is the music
that accompanies their song, and gives the time to their
step in the dance. They are an idle, worthless set, but
here meet a willingly-accorded protection, and for the
nonce, on this occasion, restrained the wonted fanaticism

THE ANDIJAN CAR A VANSAR Y. 279

of their class to receive our coin of conciliation with
every mark of gratitude.

On our way we see a fine new masonry building, its
straight lines and squares of brick and mortar showing
in the midst ol the decayed walls and mud houses be-
setting it like a new patch on an old garment. It is the
Andijan Sarae, built by the present ruler for the accom-
modation of the merchants visiting his country.

We walk in, and find its comfortable quarters occupied
by merchants from Orenburgh, and Tashkand, and Al-
mati, and elsewhere from Eussian territory. They are
Musalmans, and very civilly invite us to partake of the
tea they are drinking. We find their bales consist of
madder, and bar iron, and iron cauldrons, brass candle-
sticks, loaf and candy sugar, tea, and cotton prints. They
cover the area of the court, and are seen through its
grating piled up in the cellars below. Their owners are
taking in return felts and carpets from Khutan, with its
silk and cotton as part of their exchange. They are
finer looking, and better dressed men than those usually
seen in the place, and have amongst them some perfect
strangers to the country — merchants supposed to hail
from Moscow ; and apparently they all live very much
apart to themselves in the Sarae. In the hands of one
of them is a schot, or calculating machine. It is a sort
of ready-reckoner, and consists of an oblong frame of
wood, on which are filed upon wires a number of balls
of different colours for units, tens, &c. These are run
from side to side of the wires according to the rules for

o

the use of the instrument, and afford an easy method of
calculating long sums.

Having done the city we mount again, and on the
way back sum up the total of our experiences, and draw
our conclusions therefrom — not forgetting, however, to

280 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

note such objects en route as may for the moment divert
the current of our thoughts.

The most interesting result of this visit to the city is
the new aspect in which it has shown the people to us
in their ordinary every-day life, and we are pleased to
perceive that the unfavourable impression produced by
the concentrated ugliness and inferiority of the crowd,
which so excited our curiosity and attention on the day
of our arrival, loses very much of the repulsive character
it then presented by dispersion and intermixture with
the softer faces of women, and more attractive features
of youth. But it is by no means removed, for the
hideous goitre meets us in every street and alley, the
huge worm-like mass of its tortuous vessels dragging
down the features, and drawing the eyes forward almost
on to the cheeks of a naturally unattractive countenance ;
or, in less exaggerated development, marring by its dis-
torted swellings the comeliness of some fair feminine
face ; or, even in its incipient growth, destroying the
charm of infantile beauty.

It is the prevalence of this unsightly deformity, coupled
with the sallow complexions and sickly looks which too
often meet the gaze in the bye-ways and bazars of the
city, that so detracts now from the agreeable impression
produced by the concourse in its thoroughfares of the
rural population in holiday dress on market day. The
life and activity of that bustling scene, with its varied
Tatar costumes, and faces ruddy with the glow of health
are nowhere seen to-day. The citizens have put by their
good clothes, and in their shops and work-rooms quietly
employ themselves in the ordinary pursuits of their daily
life — in the bazars minding the shop, and in the alleys
dyeing the cloths they will expose for sale on market day,
or making the boots, and trimming the hats which, with

THE CITY MAGISTRATE ON TOUR. 281

fur coats and silk-embroidered shirts, &c. they will bar-
ter with the peasant or, preferably, sell to him for the
coin he has just realised outside in exchange for his farm
produce.

Industry and quiet are now the order of the day; and
here comes, just entering from a side street, the officer
charged with the duty of maintaining their proper obser-
vance. He is the Cazi Kais, or chief magistrate of the
city, and is going his daily round of the bazars as a
warning to gamblers and idlers, and those who neglect
the call to prayers, no less than as the examiner of
weights and measures, and protector of the people from
the frauds of the grocer and butcher. He is riding
attended by his secretary also mounted, and is preceded
by six men in two rows of three abreast, marching with
slow and measured step. Each of them carries his badge
of office, the dira. It is a broad thong of leather fixed
in a handle of wood, and is held in the hand with the
strap resting on the shoulder. He turns down the way
we are going, so we fall back to follow his procession.
The people pass on either side with a respectful bow to
the Cazi, placing the folded hands upon the stomach,
and bending with a sudden jerk as if twinged with a
cramp there. The women, if not already veiled accord-
ing to the requirements of the strictly enforced shard,
rapidly pull down that unwonted square piece of net-
work, which when the censor is not in the way is often
thrown up over the hat, and running to one side stand
with their faces to the wall, or if there be an open door,
or a convenient passage, disappear into its hiding. One
of them has not only forgotten her veil, but is so preoccu-
pied in mind that she does not notice the censors till
close upon them, and hurriedly turns to the shelter of
the wall. Her neglect of the duty imposed by Islam,

282 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

however, has not escaped the sharp eye of the Cazi Kais,
who in passing utters a few words of reproachful exhor-
tation, the force of which is impressed with four or
five quick whacks of the dira upon the offending head,
and upon the shoulders under which it immediately
ducks.

The party, after passing a number of shops, stops at
that of a grocer, and proceeds to examine his weights.
The secretary pronounces all right on the word of the
dira bearers, and the " Cazi Eais " proceeds. One of the
many bakers' shops is next selected. His flour is found
to be adulterated with earth, and he is summarily con-
demned to a drubbing, whilst the spoiled meal is confis-
cated. He is led out into the street in front of his shop,
and there well whacked about the head and body with-
out much harm corporeally, and with very salutary effect
morally.

A butcher escapes similar chastisement on satisfactory
explanation that some diseased meat found on his counter
was the portion reserved to appease the savage curs be-
setting his shambles. And then, the procession diverging
from our route, we go on our way, and passing a nest of
beggars, veritable outcasts, and the most disgusting
specimens of mankind I have seen — blind, leprous, and
goitrous, who grovel in the filth of some low hovels built
against the base of a high wall near the gate at which we
entered, and live and breed on the charity of wayfarers —
we leave the city, and return to our quarters by the way
we went out, well pleased with the day's excursion, if not
fully satisfied in respect to the preconceived notions of
its population and wealth which we had formed from
the accounts that had reached us in India. Its bazars
are decidedly poor in comparison with those of any
Indian city of the same class, and indeed presented no

DECLINE OF PROSPERITY. 283

such display in point of value as we saw on our return
to India in the native bazar at Simla. The ordinary
traffic in its streets too is not to be compared with
the everyday life of an Indian city, and struck me as
very much less than what we saw in the thoroughfares
of Srinaggar. The people are warmly and comfortably
clad, as the necessities of this climate require. But
there is as a rule nothing rich about their dress, and orna-
ments of gold or silver, or gems, are rarely or ever seen
except in some of the shops as curiosities of the Chinese
customs. What the display may be in the privacy of the
liar em can only be conjectured from samples of embroid-
ered veils studded with rubies and pearls on a border of
gold fringe, and of gold and red coral ear-drops, and of
bracelets chased with simple designs, and set with eme-
ralds and turquoise, which we saw as articles for sale, with
other trinkets of the Tatar boudoir. In fact ornaments
are not the fashion, in public at all events, and the
jeweller's shop is as scarce in the bazars as the booksellers.
The city has no special manufactures of any importance.
It has a local reputation, however, for the superiority of
the leather cured within its walls, and its boots and shoes
are esteemed for their excellence in all parts of the terri-
tory. This industry, with those of the furrier and hatter,
employs some hundreds of families, but the products of
their labour do not pass beyond the limits of the neigh-
bouring states of the country, Khutan in one direction
and Acsu in the other.

Under the Chinese the jade trade was specially en-
couraged, and the industry employed several thousands
of families here, and at Khutau, and at the quarries
in the Caracash valley, as did the gold mines in the
southern hills. But since their expulsion from the
country these occupations, except in the case of one

284 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

gold mine near Khutan, have entirely ceased, and
as regards the jade industry may be considered ex-
tinct. Even during the Chinese rule it appears that the
best specimens of this highly-prized mineral were taken
in block to China, and there confided to the artist's
skill. I made particular inquiries after samples of the
carved stone, and quite exceptionally succeeded in getting
some good pieces cut in the Indian style, and apparently
•of ancient date. Much secrecy was observed in admitting
the fact of their existence through fear of their passing
summarily at a nominal valuation into the hands of the
rulers, and when I got them they bore stains of mud as
if they had been secreted under ground. The seller
informed me that they had employed two generations of
artists in their manufacture, and that the Chinese owner
would have willingly sacrificed his life to retain them as
heirlooms in his family. Be this as it may he has cer-
tainly lost his life without the fulfilment of the proviso,
or even a chance of its offer.

There are no jade artists or miners now to be found here,
and all that at present meets the inquiry for the mineral
by Russian traders for the China market is wThat was left
in the country by the Chinese. Some of the best pieces
of both white and green jade used to be dug up in a
deserted channel of the Khutan river in the vicinity of
that city.

CHAPTER IX.

A SALUTE of seven guns at sunset on the 21st November
announced the conclusion of the " Ramazan " — a fast
which here seems to sit very lightly upon the majority,
much as their prayers do, for both are neglected on
trivial pretences by all but the priesthood class — and a
similar salute at daylight ushered in the " Id" The
festival, however, had been already inaugurated amongst
the troops, who kept the night alive with the noise of
their musical instruments in the barracks around us.

This day had been fixed for the departure of Haji Tora
for Kashghar, and it was arranged that we should follow
a week later. He set out accordingly with his staff of
Turkish officers, and the presents from Constantinople,
after the conclusion of the "Id" prayers. The envoy
accompanied by some of his staff paid him a visit to
bid him farewell, whilst Colonel Gordon and Captain
Biddulph went over to the Dadkhwah on the part of the
envoy with the " Id " presents and congratulations.

In the afternoon we visited the city expecting to see
a crowd of holiday folks there, but found the bazars
very thinly attended, owing probably to the usual
market gathering having been held on the previous day.
The troops recently arrived from Manas and the Turfan
frontier appeared there in force, and amongst them I
noticed several with very marked Manchu features, and
just the long thin moustache, and wiry chin tuft one
sees in pictures of their race.

286 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

In our several visits to the city we never heard the
sounds of music or song, except the ravings of the
darvesh, and the recitations of the bacsi, if they can be
so classed. There are nevertheless professed musicians
of no mean talents according to the standard of the
country, but they only perform at private entertain-
ments.

The Dadkhwah, to make sure we did not leave the
place under the impression that the horribly harsh and
discordant noises of his military band were the proper
and only representatives of the music of the country,
very obligingly sent a party of professionals to give us a
specimen of the real art. The company consisted of
five performers. One played upon a reed pipe like a
flageolet (balawan), and another upon a violin of eight
strings (rabctb) ; two of them played upon tambourines
(doff) which had jingling rings of steel round the cir-
cumference, and the other performed on a sort of harp
(canun) or piano with eighteen double wires and two
single stretched across a sounding board. The perform-
ance was in concert, and accompanied by the voices of
the two who played the stringed instruments. The
songs they sung were Turki love ditties, and the airs
were peculiarly soft and harmonious. There was nothing
discordant, though there seemed a monotonous repetition
of tune. But the combined effect of their execution was
on the whole pleasing, and in itself not without merit.
The canun player used a steel plectrum, and stopped the
vibrations of the wires by a tap with the fingers of the
other hand.

Seventy-five mule-loads of our camp and heavy
baggage having gone ahead in carts — neat, light wagons
resembling those of Europe, and drawn by three or four
horses, one in the shafts and the others abreast in front

DEPARTURE FROM YARKAND. 287

— we took leave of the Dad.kh.wali, and set out on our
journey to the court of Atalik Ghazi.

Muhammad Yunus considered his position in this
country as dadkhwah of Yarkand equivalent to that of the
lieutenant-governor of a province in India, and did not
deem it necessary to return the visit of the envoy, but
got over any little difficulty in the matter by inviting
us all to breakfast on the day preceding our departure,
and the opportunity served for us to take leave of him,
and thank him for his hospitality and attentions.

We left the Yangishahr of Yarkand at about eight A.M.
on the 28th November, and marched twenty-five miles
to Kok Eabat, where we found quarters in the rest-
house. It is similar to that at Karghalik, arid like it
and others we occupied, only used by the king, and the
guests whom he chooses to honour.

Our route passed round the north side of the fort, and
at about four miles crossed the Opah river by a newly
built bridge, the ornamental towers at each end of which
are not quite finished. Beyond it we passed amongst
scattered homesteads to Cara Cum, or " Black Sand," a
mile and a half further on, and alighted for the dastur-
khwan at a peasant's house which had been cleared for
our reception. It stood on the verge of a sandy waste
which we, on resuming the route, traversed for ten miles to
Eabatchi. This last is a long strip of farmsteads running
east and west on the course of a small perennial stream.
At half way to it we passed the roadside post-stage, or
ortang, of Sughuchak, where are a few trees and eight
or ten huts clustered together. All the rest of this
bit of the road is a waste dotted with saline pools,
patches of reeds and tamarisks, and camel's thorn
scattered over a surface covered with saline encrusta-
tions, and thrown into hillocks of blown sand. And

288 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

here and there, at distant intervals on its wide extent,
appeared a few isolated shepherd's huts.

From Eabatchi to Kok Eabat the road lies across
similar country, with scattered homesteads extending
some way out on its surface. Kok Eabat is a settle-
ment of about two hundred homesteads which spread
east and west over a considerable surface. Our next
stage was Kizili, thirty miles. The route went N.W.
across a gravelly desert the horizon of which met and
mingled with an atmosphere of dense haze. Its surface,
bare and undulating, gently sloped to the west up to
some low ridges of clay projecting on to it from under
a veil of haze which concealed all beyond from view.
The air was keen (the thermometer stood at 18° F. as
we set out), and was rendered sharper by a cold north
wind.

At half way — a little beyond the ruins of a former
post-stage — we alighted for the daxturlchwdn at Ac
Eabat, or "The white hostel." This is a small post-
stage enclosed within walls, and has accommodation for
a score of horses. It is kept by a party of four or five
men, and is the only habited spot on this march. There
are two wells of brackish water here ; one on the road
and the other inside the robot. In the latter, which is
a very narrow shaft, the water was ninety-eight feet
down, and disagreeably salt.

Near this place we were met by Khal Muhammad, a
confidential servant of Atalik Ghazi, who has the rank of
Pdnsad Bdshi or " Commandant of five hundred." He
was accompanied by twenty troopers, or jigit as the
cavalry soldier is here called, and had been sent out from
Yangi Hissar by his master to welcome, and do honour
to the envoy, and conduct his party to the capital. His
men like himself wore a very strange uniform, which

THE ATALIK'S LIFE GUARDS. 289

was admirably adapted to the climate and country at
this season.

It consisted of a whole suit of yellow buff leather.
The conical cap was of this material edged with otter
fur ; and, like the long sheepskin coat, had the wool
intact on the inside. The overalls — very capacious bags,
called shim — in place of the wool were lined with chintz,
and decorated at the lower edges, as was the coat, with
a thin border of otter fur. Even the boots were of tan
leather unblacked. The material of the cap and coat
was the same as that of the Kabul postin — the peculiar
colour and softness being the result of the treatment in
curing with pomegranate rinds — but it was altogether
without the silk embroidery on the postins of that
country, and had no ornamentation at all on those worn
by the private troopers. The coat worn by Khal
Muhammad had a sort of dragon's head device worked
in coloured silks on the back between the shoulders.
And this device we subsequently found was the badge
of rank, and only allowed to commandants.

This was the only party of troops we saw in uniform
during our stay in the country, excepting only the artil-
lery, though there are probably many similarly equipped ;
for at Kashghar we afterwards met another Pansad
Bashi in the same sort of coat as Khal Muhammad wore
here, and saw some few of the body guard of Atalik
Ghazi in the same uniform as that of this party. The
arms of these men were the sword, and percussion rifle
with high sights. These last are manufactured in the
Atalik's workshops in the Yangishahr of Kashghar, and
look very serviceable weapons.

At Kizili we alighted at the Government rest-house, a
spacious Sarae opposite the village, and in the afternoon
visited the iron furnaces of the place. We found eighteen

T

29o KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

or twenty smelting ovens clustered together in the midst
of the houses of the workmen. None of them were in
work, so we had an opportunity of examining their
structure. The furnace is built in the centre of a round
pit which is roofed roughly, and it has a narrow chim-
ney four to six feet high, and pierced with air-holes
round the base. The charcoal and ore are mixed toge-
ther in the shaft of the chimney, and the melted metal
sinks to a trough below, where the nozzles of two or
three bellows appear to have been fixed. The furnaces
are very roughly built of clay and stone, and, to judge
from the slag lying about them, the smelting appears to
be imperfect. The ore is brought from the hills two
days' journey to the west, and the quarries are called
Timurtagh or " Iron hill," and Kiziltagh or " Eed hill."
The miners and smelters are said to number two hundred
families. Their huts are massed together as in a village,
and not scattered about as farmsteads as in the other
settlements we have seen in this country. The water
here is brackish, and the soil of a reddish colour, whence
the name of the place.

Next day we marched to Yangi Hissar — thirty miles —
and halted two days. The first ten miles across a waste
of thin pasture, on which we passed the little farmstead
settlements of Chamalung (where the Chinese had an or-
tang or post-stage), Cuduc, and Cosh Gumbat ; and the
next four across a desert strip of sands and salines, which
extends east and west out of view, and is thinly covered
with camel's thorn, tamarisk, saltworts and other desert
plants, to Topaluk, or " The dusty place/' a settlement
of farmsteads running east and west along the course of
a small rivulet. We alighted here for the dasturJchwan
at a peasant's house on the roadside.

At two miles further on we passed the homesteads of

ARRIVAL AT YANGI HISSAR, 291

Kalpin, and a little beyond it the ruins of a village of
the same name, and then entered on a wide desert tract
which rises into hillocks and banks that run from west to
east and close the distant view in front. The land here
lies low, and is covered with spongy saline encrustations,
and saltworts and coarse grass, and is impassable except
on the beaten track owing to the pitfalls on its blistered
surface. In some parts, our cattle getting off the track
sunk to the hocks in a loose pulverulent earth, the nature
of which was concealed from view by the plants growing
in the saline crust on its surface. As my horse laboured
heavily on it, I dismounted, and tried to follow some
bustard which had been marked down away to the
right, but found the effloresced soil so deep, and the
labour of walking on it so fatiguing, that I was glad to
leave the game to their safety, and resume my seat in
the saddle.

On the other side of this desert tract we came to
the Sugat Bulac or " Willow Spring " post house, at the
foot of some ridges of gravel and sand which extend
across the country from west to east along the course of
the Shahnaz river. The road winds amongst these
ridges for some miles, and then, passing through a gap,
leads across the muddy river by a bridge of rough logs
and spars. The stream is dammed just above the bridge,
and about the banks on either side are some water-mills
on the canals drawn off at this point to the cultivation
and farms of Shahnaz. The river here flows in a deep
sandy channel between high perpendicular banks of loose
earth, and is unfordable on account of its quicksands.
It comes down from the low hills on the west, and is
exhausted in the irrigation of the lands lower down
after a south-easterly course of about twenty-five miles
on the plain. Beyond the fields of Shahnaz we crossed

29 2 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

the bare gravelly ridges of Cayragh, and descended to
the populous suburbs of Yangi Hissar, which itself is a
poor dilapidated little town, protected by a strong fort
on the plain to the north. We passed through its bazar,
and turning off to the left across some fields, white as
snow with their encrustation of salts, alighted at a gar-
den-house which had been prepared for our reception,
and was kept by a guard of soldiers. We were to have
halted here only one day, but late in the evening of the
1st December a messenger arrived from Kashghar Avith
orders for Khal Muhammad to detain our party here
another day. So he explained to the envoy very diplo-
matically that the Atalik had ordered him to take care
that we were not fatigued by over-marching, and that
he was to make us comfortable here for to-morrow, and
bring us on next day by the usual stages.

On the 3d December accordingly we resumed our
march, and alighted at the rest-house of Yapchang,
twenty-five miles. Our road took us past the fort, or
Yangishahr, of Yangi Hissar, and through a wide street
of barracks outside it. There was no parade or display
of troops, but we saw some of the soldiers seated under
the line of trees in front of their doors, and caught
glimpses of the Chinese women — their prizes of war — as
they peered at us from the doorways or over the wall.
Some of them were in the bloom of youth, and remark-
ably clear and rosy in complexion.

Clearing the barracks, we went north across a thinly
cultivated, and saline impregnated plain which is here
traversed by two considerable canals a mile or so apart,
and bridged at the road. Beyond them, at about the
tenth mile, we passed the farmsteads of Saidlar, and
then crossed a wide sandy waste grown over with reeds
and saltworts, and here and there covered with stagnant

APPROACH TO KASHGHAR. 293

pools, and stretches of marsh, land, in the midst of which,
scattered at distant intervals, were a few widely isolated
homesteads ; and at another five miles or so we came to
Sogholuc, where we alighted at a pleasant garden-house
for the dasturkhwan.

The weather was remarkably fair, and, though the
sun was shining brightly, and felt agreeably warm, it
had little effect on the ice of the frozen streamlets. The
usual haze had disappeared, and the air was clear, and
frosty to a degree we had not before experienced, and
we got a very extensive view of the country. It pre-
sented only a wide plain of undulating sand and gravel,
very thinly peopled only in front and behind us, all the
rest being a reed-grown waste, here and there broken in
its monotonous level by sand dunes. Against the sky to
the south and south-west were seen some snowy peaks,
and the mountain masses of the Tagharma group in
Sarigh Col ("the yellow defile"), whilst directly to the
west lay the lower ranges of the Caratagh (" the black
mountain.")

Beyond Sogholuc we marched four miles over a wide
reed-grown tract, on which the road winds amongst
marshes and sand dunes up to the Khan Aric which we
crossed by bridge, and following up its marshy curve for
some distance crossed a branch canal by bridge, and
beyond it entered the cultivation of Yapchang.

Next morning — 4th December — we marched to the
Yangishahr of Kashghar, » fourteen miles. Our route
went north-west over a plain of sandy waste similar to
that already passed, and still thinly populated, though
traversed from west to east by the river Tazghun, and
several canals from it, most of which, as is the river,
are crossed by rafter bridges. Within thirty minutes of
leaving Yapchang we crossed three of these canals by

294 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

bridge (they flow in low-banked sandy channels impas-
sable otherwise by reason of quicksands), and then the
river, and in fifteen minutes more entered the culti-
vation of the Tazghun settlement. Beyond its narrow
strip, we crossed a saline waste of reeds, and marshes, and
pools, and at two hours and ten minutes from Yapchang
alighted at a small cluster of huts at the Carasu bridge
for the dasturkhwan.

The morning air was sharp and frosty. The pools
and lesser streams were all frozen, and the larger carried
drift ice. Beyond the Carasu, which is about five miles
from the Yangishahr, we were met by a party of fifteen
or sixteen horsemen headed by Coshbegi Mirza Ahmad,
who had been sent out by Atalik Ghazi to welcome the
envoy. He is one of the most important men attached
to the court, and is the first richly dressed man we have
yet seen in the country. He is a fine handsome man,
of about forty-five years of age, and has large features,
with a full beard, and looks more like an Afghan than a
Tatar. He is one of the few men who held rank and
position in his own country before he came here ; and
he figured prominently in the politics of Khocand, where
he made an unsuccessful attempt to usurp the throne,
and took an active part in the hostilities both against
the Kussians and against Khudayar Khan. On the cap-
ture of Tashkand by the former in 1865, he made an un-
successful attempt to forestall the latter in the recovery
of Khocand, and, on the restoration of the Khan to the
throne, was forced to flee the country with many others
who had been arrayed against both in the interest of
the Capchac party. We did not meet him again after
our installation in the Eesidency.

Beyond Carasu up to the Yangishahr, and to Kash-
ghar five miles further on, the country becomes more

RECEPTION BY A TALIK GHAZI. 295

populous and highly cultivated, and farmsteads and
fields meet the eye in all directions.

Our road passed some artillery barracks, and then
along the east side of the fort round to the Eesidency,
or quarters which had been recently built for our accom-
modation, immediately opposite the gateway on the
north face of Yangishahr, where we alighted at noon.
Mirza Ahmad having introduced us to our quarters, and
marshalled in the dasturkhwan, took leave of the envoy
to report arrival to his master.

A couple of hours later Ihrar Khan, Tora, who had
previously visited India, and was known to the envoy,
came over to conduct us to the presence of Atalik Grhazi,
as it was the custom of the country for honoured visitors
to be granted an audience to pay their respects to the
king immediately on arrival. We accordingly arrayed
ourselves in full dress uniform, and followed our chief,
who was conducted to the palace by the Tora.

The distance across the road to the fort gate was only
a bowshot, and we found but a small crowd of soldiers
and camp followers collected as sight-seers. We passed
over a drawbridge, and through three gates, one beyond
the other at right angles, each with its guard, as at
Yarkand, and, dismounting inside the third, walked
across an open space to the gate of the palace or orda.
This is a very unpretending flat-roofed building ap-
proached through three courts, the two outer of which
were occupied by about 400 men of the king's guard.
They were all seated motionless and silent in long rows
against the verandah walls.

We passed through the first two courts, and some-
how sympathetically became infected with the solemnity
and silence that pervaded the air of the place. As we
entered through the doorway of the third court, Ihrar

296 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Khan, with a look of serious gravity, motioned a pause,
and stepping silently forward peeped into it, and then
beckoned us on. Three or four steps brought us through
the passage into the oblong court. Two sides were occu-
pied by a verandah, and the other two by blank walls
of mud plaster. Under the verandah at the further end,
and opening on to its broad floor, was a row of door
windows with lattice-work panels ; and in the centre of
the court was a frozen tank, around which grew some
tall poplar trees. There was not a soul in the court
but ourselves, and its silence was oppressive. The Tora
walked a step or two in front of us with downcast head,
folded hands, and silent footfall, and we mechanically
followed, stilling the noise of our boots upon the flat-
brick paved path as best we could on tip-toe.

At the steps of the verandah our guide, with unre-
laxed solemnity of countenance, motioned a halt, and
leisurely walking up to the door, disappeared within
it. We took the opportunity to whisper to each other as
the tone most suited to the dreadful silence of the spot
and occasion. After two or three very long minutes the
Tora reappeared in the verandah, and beckoning the
envoy to advance, motioned the rest of us to stand
still.

Our chief entered the doorway, and, as I am informed,
walked nearly up the hall, when a middle-sized, stout-
built, and plainly dressed man of about fifty years of age
entered from an opposite door, and shaking hands, wel-
comed him to Kashghar. The sounds of conversation
reached us in the court, and now the Tora standing in
the verandah at the hall door beckoned us one by one,
and passed us in. "We walked in turn up the hall (a
large plain room, like that of the orda at Yarkand) to
its top, where Atalik Ghazi was seated Turkish fashion

THE CEREMONY OF HIS COURT. 297

on the floor, with the envoy on his right at one side.
Here, being introduced by our chief, we stooped to
shake the proffered hand, and bowing our acknowledge-
ments to the sonorous and impassive "salctmat" of the
Atalik's greeting, stepped back to seat ourselves on the
cushion in a line below the envoy.

"When all were seated the Atalik, with true Oriental
solemnity, welcomed the envoy to his country in a few
short words, the while folding his hands in the over-
lapping sleeves of his juba. The envoy gracefully
acknowledged the compliment, and presented a rifle for
the acceptance of our host. It was received with a bow,
but no curious examination or inquiry was permitted
to disturb the narrow current of the etiquette so rigidly
observed in this Court, and then a glance from Atalik
Ghazi towards the Tora, who stood inside the door at
the further end of the hall, was the signal for the das-
turWiwan. A low bow and a tacsir preceded his exit
to order it in. He re-entered immediately, and with a
drop on one knee and rapid stroke of the beard whilst
muttering a benediction, rose to resume his attitude of
respectful attention at the former post.

A file of some twenty-five or thirty soldiers, with
their swords slung at the waist, now marched in with
the trays of fruits and sweets, and laid them on the
Khocand silk table-cloths which were now spread
before us by one of their number. This was all done
with such studied quiet that the silence of the room
was not disturbed by more than the rustle of their
silk dresses and sword belts, till the booming of the salute,
at this moment fired on the parade near our quarters,
suddenly broke the stillness of the palace with the
first of fifteen slowly succeeding reports — all in the full
force of the honour they were meant to convey. For

298 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

this military mode of doing honour was an innovation
on the customs of the country ; and this was, through
the representations of Haji Tora, the first occasion on
whichjthe Atalik had so honoured anybody — a course
he was led to adopt in recognition of a similar com-
pliment paid to his own envoy, now returned with us,
on his reception by the authorities in India.

All this time the Atalik, seated on his crossed heels in
the fashion of the country, maintained a dignified silence,
and we sat motionless staring at the trays before us, or
looking straight in front through the opposite windows
into a court beyond in which were loitering a few
soldiers gun in hand, or gently turning our eyes upon
the personage whose character inspired such awe.

With the last gun of the salute a soldier bearing a tray
with two bowls of tea on it approached, and kneeling
held it to the Atalik who, relaxing the gravity of his
features for the moment, with a gracious smile proffered
it to the envoy, and reaching forward to the nearest
tray of the dasturlchwan took a biscuit, and breaking
it handed a morsel to him, and at the same time with a
bismillah invited us to help ourselves.

The ice of reserve was now cracked, and a conversation
between Atalik Ghazi and the envoy followed, inter-
rupted by long pauses of grave silence. His Highness
observed, "You have performed a hard journey over
bad roads. I hope my officials have attended to your
requirements satisfactorily.'7 The envoy assured him
we had travelled with comfort, and said how grateful
we were for all the attentions shown to us by His
Highness.

" You must have found it cold on the march from
Yarkand. The frost here has set in hard since four days,
and will increase during the next two months." The

FEATURES OF THE ATALIK. 299

envoy, gracefully acknowledging the preparations made
for our accommodation, replied that in the comfortable
shelter provided by His Highness, the cold would only
remind us of our home country.

The Atalik then referred to the envoy's previous visit
to this country, and observed that he was unable to meet
him on that occasion owing to the pressure of important
affairs requiring his presence on his eastern frontier.
He was highly honoured by his visit now. " You have
come," he said, " to your own country. You are all
welcome. Make yourselves at home, and do as you
would at home. You are free to do all that is right in
my territories."

Another bit of bread was offered by way of ceremony,
and the allah akbar with the accompanying stroke of
the beard signalled the removal of the dasturJchivan.
The file of soldiers reappeared, and noiselessly picking
up the pieces disappeared with their trays ; and then a
repetition of the first " salamat," whilst Atalik folded
his hands in the opposite sleeves of his juba, was the
hint on which, rising with the envoy, we made our bows
and walked out of the hall as well as our numbed and
cramped legs could carry us.

We went out the way we came in, and were accom-
panied by the Tora to our quarters. On emerging from
the sacred precincts of the palace we threw off the
solemnity of its atmosphere, and with the Tora, who
was inwardly proud of the impression produced by his
master's august presence, breathed and talked once more
with our wonted freedom and ease.

Atalik Ghazi has a very remarkable face, and one not
easily described. It presents no single feature with
undue prominence, and seen in a crowd would pass un-
noticed as rather a common sort of face ; yet it has

300 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

peculiar characters and wears an expression which some-
how conveys the impression that it is more assumed
than natural. The face has the general outlines of
the Tatar physiognomy, with its asperities softened
and rounded by Uzbak blood, and presents a broad
full countenance without a wrinkle or a seam, and
with less of commanding weight than of sensual pas-
sion in its expression. This may be the result of the
features having acquired their natural cast under the
influence of the vicissitudes and servility of his life
until ten years ago as a servant of the Court of Khocand.
The forehead is full and high, and without trace of a frown
or wrinkle is displayed to full advantage under a well
set turban, the pure white folds of which rest high on the
shaven scalp; but it loses much of the force thus acquired
owing to the equally full development of the cheeks,
which again also detract from the size and importance of
the nose. On any other face this characteristic feature
would be pronounced massive and powerful, but here it
is short, and smooth, and defective alike in breadth and
prominence, and deprived of much of its real weight by
the mouth, which and the eyes are the two most strik-
ing features of the whole countenance. The mouth is
large, but not coarse ; and the lips are thick and fleshy,
but at the same time firmly set. Its expression is
one of severity, though now and again in conversation
the upper lip is curled for a moment with a very pleas-
ing smile, instantly, however, to resume its apparently
studied expression of gravity. The eyes are full and play
under open brows, but they have no softness. They
move slowly and stare with deliberation, and take no part
in the evanescent smiles that occasionally move the lips.
Their general expression is that of thought and melan-
choly. Altogether the set of the features appear to be

fflS CHARACTER. 301

the result of studied gravity and reserve, and though
naturally the countenance is well favoured its general
expression is not attractive.

The same ceremony and etiquette marked each of the
five visits we paid to His Highness during our stay in
the country. The studied simplicity and grave solemnity,
coupled with the awful silence pervading the precincts
of the court, stamp the character of the strict discipline
maintained by this remarkable man. There is no sign
of confidence or affection anywhere. The expression of
fear and self-interest is everywhere. There is no recog-
nised system of rule. The despot's will is the law. His
own people, as well as his subjects, think, and speak, and
act with an ever-present conviction that any moment
may plunge them into calamity ; and they live a life of
resignation and servility.

The man who has created, and who controls this state
of society, if a tithe of what is said in mysterious
whispers of his acts and his tempers be true, enjoys no
confidence or affection where the bare sentiments do not
exist. The loyalty he extorts is that of fear, not of
goodwill, and its homage is exacted with a jealousy
apparent in the most trivial matters, as we observed
in many instances that came to our notice during our
stay in the country.

He trusts nobody, and is in return trusted by nobody.
Profound secrecy, and an imperious will, the caprice of
which no man can foretell, are the principles of his rule,
and, whatever may be their merit, they are not without
their burthen, of which mistrust of his own creatures is
not the least onerous. How far these conditions may
be the growth of the peculiar circumstances of his posi-
tion it is not easy to determine, but of their existence
there is not a doubt, and of their novelty in the govern-

302 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

merit of the country there is no lack of evidence amongst
the conquered people. The government is said to be
formed on the model of that of Khocand, and the Court
titles and dignities are all adopted from that princi-
pality, where, some half century ago, Muhammad Ali
Khan revived the system of the Mughal emperors in the
Court he then established.

Whatever the severity of the rule, however, and by
whatever means it has been acquired, it is now firmly
administered by a master mind, and with a success that
has well nigh banished violent crime from the country.
And it has besides reduced the people to a state of dis-
cipline that reflects as much upon their submissive
temper .as upon the majesty of Islam, in whose name
the change has been effected by the potentate who now
here holds the sway over a million and a half of people,
the subjects for a hundred years and more preceding of
the comparatively tolerant rule of the Chinese.

During the three months of our stay at Kashghar we
heard of only one murder occurring in the place, and
for that the culprit was publicly executed by having his
throat cut in the principal bazar of the city. We never
heard of robbery on the high roads during all our stay
in the country. This form of crime appears only to
have been practised by the wandering Kirghiz on the
borders.

On returning from our visit to the Atalik we in-
stalled ourselves in the quarters prepared for us, and
soon perceived the cause of our detention at Yarkand
and delay at Yangi Hissar. These buildings had only
been commenced on a plan forwarded by Haji Tora after
his messenger, Mulla Artoc who overtook our camp in
Nubra, arrived at Kashghar ; and they had only been
finished just as we entered them.

0 UR RESIDE NC Y AT KASHGHAR. 303

The buildings included two courts surrounded by rooms,
and two yards for stabling and servants, all enclosed
within walls of a square shape, and entered by a main
gateway facing the fort. The rooms were very comfort-
ably furnished as at Karghalik and Yarkand, and we
received the most hospitable attention throughout our
stay in the place.

Around our block of residency was an open space, and
beyond it were the military bazar on one side, with regi-
mental barracks (little fortified squares) scattered over
the plain on the others in the direction of the city.
Amongst those to the northward, and at no great dis-
tance, is a neat building surrounded by tall poplars
within the enclosing walls of its court-yard. It is one
of the Atalik's harems, and is said to contain a hun-
dred and twenty fair creatures from different parts of
the country. There is another inside the fort and a
third at Yangi Hissar. The total number of their in-
mates is variously estimated at from two hundred and
fifty to four hundred women, amongst whom there are,
it is said, representatives of almost every people from
the cities of China on the east to the markets of Con-
stantinople on the west, and from the steppes of
Mongholia on the north to the valleys of the Himalaya
on the south. The modern Napoleon of the Tatar
steppes, as his admirers are pleased to style him on ac-
count of his successful usurpations, may be with equal
propriety styled the Solomon of the age, for if he has
not the proverbial wisdom of that ancient king, he at
least emulates him in the number of his wives and con-
cubines. Of the former, Yacub Beg, as a prosperous
Musalman, had provided himself with the full ]egal num-
ber before he left Khocand ; but now the four partners
of his lot as a mere Coshbegi have to share their fortunes

304 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

with four times their number of wives, whom it has
pleased their lord as Atalik Ghazi to take unto himself
in formal wedlock. And this without account of the
concubines whom he may please to honour with his
favours. The greatest promotion these last can look for
is to be transferred as wives to some deserving officer
whom their lord and king may thus choose to honour.

A couple of days after our arrival at Kashghar, Atalik
Ghazi paid a visit to the shrine of Hazrat Afac, the
patron saint of the country, and returned to his Court
next day with the style and title of Amir Muhammad
Ydcub Khan, Amir ulmuminin or " Commander of the
Faithful," and issued a new coinage in the name of the
reigning Sultan of Turkey. There was no parade or
ceremony to celebrate the event, but the Amir, held a
court, and received the congratulations of his troops on
the dignity and honour conferred on him by the repre-
sentative head of the Faithful.

On the llth of December the envoy, attended by all
his officers in full dress, paid a visit to the Amir, and
presented the letter and presents from the Queen, and
the letter and presents from Her Majesty's Viceroy of
India. The envoy proceeded with all due state and
ceremony, and was received by the Amir with precisely
the same etiquette as on the first occasion. That is, he
met him standing, and took his seat on the floor before
the rest of us entered. Amongst the presents those
which excited most surprise, and met with greatest
favour were the sewing machines, of which the fame
had spread this way from the Moscow market. They
soon found their way to the harem, and were very
quickly put out of order by the fair fingers there. Ihrar
Khan Tora brought them back one day to be readjusted,
and to take a lesson how to manipulate them, and went

APPRECIATION OF THE TELEGRAPH. 305

off with his charge quite elated with the new gained
power, to explain how simple it was to work them.
But, whether he was an unskilful demonstrator, or the
ladies were too hasty in their experiments, they werebefore
long again brought back in pieces to be put together and
set right; and this time accompanied by a tailor to
master the mysteries of their construction and working.
His instruction was apparently to some purpose, whether
for good or evil I will not pretend to say. At all events
we never heard of them again.

The telegraph apparatus on which some of our party
had devoted much time to set in working order, and
whose powers they were prepared to illustrate by trans-
mitting messages between the envoy's residence and the
Amir's court, was evidently looked upon with suspicion,
and His Highness never once alluded to it, much less
expressed a wish to see it in operation. The models of
steam engines and steam ships fared no better, not so
much from prejudice against them as inventions of the
devil as from utter ignorance of their uses and powers.

On the 13th of December we visited the city as the
guests of the Dadkhwah Alish Beg. He resides in an
orda very similar in plan and surroundings to that of
Yarkand, and in its audience hall entertained us to a
most sumptuous dasturJchwan of mixed Andijan and
Chinese cookery. We spent the afternoon in the garden
attached to his palace. In summer it must be a very
pleasant retreat, but as we saw it in the depth of winter
it appeared anything but a charming resort. It had two
large tanks, and on one of these on a subsequent occasion
Captain Chapman with his skates showed our host how
people in Europe disport themselves on the ice. His
rapid and clever evolutions drew forth the admiration of
the Dadkhwah and his retinue, and we more than once

u

306 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

heard of the Amir's intention to preside at such a dis-
play, but for some reason His Highness never carried
out the purpose.

It took us an hour and twenty minutes to ride from
the Yangishahr to the city gate, at the ordinary march-
ing rate of four miles an hour. Our road took us amongst
a number of small barrack enclosures, and across three
or four irrigation canals, over which at different points
are thrown rough rafter bridges, and then along a low
water-logged beach of the Kizil Su, or " Eed river," by
a causeway lined with willow- trees up to the bridge over
the river, which here flows between very shallow banks.

The bridge is a rough untidy structure of wood, sup-
ported on two piers built in the channel ; and the road
rises up to it on either side over a sloping bank of
earth. Just above this bridge on the city side is the
spot where Khoja Wall Khan in 1857 murdered Adolphe
Schlagentweit, and added his head to the pile of skulls
which he in the tyranny of his mad career erected here.
He reappeared on the scene of his former atrocities, in the
party which came over with the Khoja Buzurg Khan in
1864-5, and was afterwards put out of the way as a
troublesome character and possible rival, when Atalik
Ghazi came to power some six months later.

Beyond the bridge on the right hand a little way off
the road are seen the ruins of ancient Kashghar — the
Aski Shahr or Aski Sai as it is usually pronounced, " the
old city" — destroyed by Mirza Ababakar, as I have
before mentioned. Of the completeness of his work the
remains bear witness, though in the haste of his level-
ling, the ramparts of the citadel were left standing on
three sides. The eastern walls have been entirely washed
away by a branch of the Tuman river which had been
dammed up to flood the, city and efface all trace of its

RUINS OF ANCIENT KASHGHAR. 307

mud walls, and its channel now occupies the place of
that side of the fort, the former area of which is now
occupied by a few poor cottages and cornfields. The
walls which remain are now about twenty-four feet high
and twelve paces broad at the top. They are built up of
hard clay and gravel, and present a look of great strength.
At intervals of fifty or sixty paces are tall round moles
built up of successive layers of clay and rubble which
are still distinctly traceable as they were originally de-
posited. There are four of these moles on the west face,
and they stand forward some thirty feet from the walls.
They present three or four successive horizontal lines of
holes, one above the other at intervals of six feet or so,
which represent the sockets of the rafters which passed
in so many tiers from the mole to the walls ; and they
probably formed covered passages from the outwork to
the fort, and from their shelter gave the archers a flank
fire upon assailants against the walls.

The city according to the " Tarikhi Eashidi " covered a
very large extent of surface on both sides of the river
Tuman, and traces of ruined walls, and mounds of debris
are still seen scattered about on both banks below the
existing ruins of the citadel. From remote times Kash-
ghar held a proud position as one of the most impor-
tant cities of eastern Turkistan, and in the time of the
Mughal Khans gave its name to the territory of their
hereditary kingdom. This name which fell into disuse
during the century of Chinese occupation has now been
revived by the present ruler, who styles himself Amir of
Kashghar ; and his coin bears the name of this city as
the capital of his principality.

From the time of the Afrasyab kings it was noted as
the capital of this territory, and a flourishing centre of
trade. What the ancient pronunciation and spelling of

3o8 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

its name may have been does not appear, but in the form
it has been handed down to us by the Arab chroniclers
of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, it does not
seem to have lost much of its original etymology, if we
are right in considering Kashghar as the foreign form
of the Sanskrit Kasigarh — the fort of Kasi — a name now
represented in India by the Hindi form of Kashi for the
city of Benares. As a transition state between the two
I note that Marco Polo, according to Yule, spelled the
name Cascar, and elsewhere it is spelt Casigar.

But Kashghar reached the height of its prosperity as
the capital of the Uyghur kingdom under the princes of
the lylik dynasty. In the time of those kings — the
tenth and eleventh centuries — the suburbs of Kashghar,
it is said, extended up to the settlement of Artosh,
twenty miles to the north at the point of divergence of
the caravan routes, by the passes on the west to Khocand,
and on the north to Almati. At that time Artosh itself
was a flourishing market town, and the residence of the
Baghra Khan branch of the royal family, the hereditary
princes of the country, and for many centuries the rulers
of Kashghar.

It was under the reign of one of those princes — Sultan
Satoc Baghra Khan Ghazi — that Islam was first intro-
duced into the country, he himself having become an
early convert at the hands of Abu Nasr, one of the
conquering Samani princes of Bukhara. He spent his
life in wars of conversion, and after more than half a
century of bloodshed and violence, reduced the towns on
the line of the route from his capital to Turfan and up
to Khamil to accept the new faith. On his death in
1037 he was buried under a grand mausoleum in Lower
Artosh, where his tomb is now venerated as one of the
most important shrines of the country. It has been very

BUILDING OF THE PRESENT CITY. 309

recently restored from its state of decay by the Amir,
who has renewed its ancient endowments, and built a
commodious college and monastery in connection with
it. The cities of Yangi Hissar, Yarkand, and Khutan,
held out against the introduction of the new faith, but
were finally reduced after an exterminating warfare of a
quarter of a century by the sons and successors of Satoc
Baghra Khan.

On the downfall of the Uyghur rule Kashghar became
the capital of the Cara Khitay king, Gorkhan, and passed
from him to Koshluk prince of the Nayman Kirghiz —
at that time with the Cara Khitay mostly Nestorian
Christians — till a few years later it was seized by the
Mughals headed by Changiz. Under the Mughal rule the v/'
city flourished, and recovered its importance as a com-
mercial centre on the restoration of the trade with China;
but, during the years of anarchy succeeding the death of
Chaghtay, it appears to have lost much of its importance
till the restoration of the Chaghtay family, in the person
of Toghluc Tymur, again raised it to pre-eminence in the
country. But only for a short time, for in the reign of
his son Khizr it felt the full force of Tymur's last cam-
paign in this direction, and was reduced to a state of
poverty and depopulation from which it never recovered
thoroughly. Finally it was utterly destroyed and effaced
from the earth by Mirza Ababakar as before mentioned.

He transported its population en masse to Yarkand,
and, with ten thousand of its men, in seven days built the
present city, on the high ground of the right bank of the
Tuman, a little way higher up its course. Its enclosing
walls and ditch only were completed when the invading
army of Sd'id appeared on the Uch Burhan ridge on the
opposite bank, above the ford at Sarman.

Ababakar in the meantime had fallen back on his

3io KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

capital, fortifying and storing Yangi Hissar on his way,
and his general left at Kashghar abandoned the place,
without an attempt at defence, the very night of the
enemy's appearance under its walls. Sd'id, finding the
place a mere walled enclosure, left it behind him, and
advanced upon Yangi Hissar. On his capture of Yar-
kand, three months later, he restored the Kashgharis to
their new city, and it then assumed much the form in
which we found it.

According to the ' ' Tarikhi Eashidi " its walls enclosed
an area of one hundred and fifty jarib, or about fifty acres.
They are high and massive, and are supported at intervals
by buttress bastions with turrets on top, and are pro-
tected by a deep ditch on three sides, the fourth being
washed below by the river. The city has two gates, the
Cum Dabza or " Sand-Gate " on the south side, and the
Su Dabza or " Water-Gate " on the north.

Around it on the plain are populous suburbs, and some
prominent shrines. Of these the most conspicuous and
important are those of Sayyid Jalaluddin Baghdadi, and
Hazrat Padshah. The latter is built over the head of
Arslan Khan of the Baghra Khan family, whose body
lies under the shrine of Ordam Padshah at the Cum
Shahidan or "Martyr's Sands."

He was killed, as I shall hereafter mention, in fight
against the Chinese of Khutan, and his head was cast by
the victorious general against the city walls as a rebuke
to the cowardice of the garrison shut up within them.
Afterwards, on the repulse of the enemy, the head of the
martyr prince was buried where found outside the walls,
and a shrine was built on the spot. The situation of the
shrine, consequently, is a guide to the former limit in
this direction of the city walls, and conveys some idea
of the area they enclosed.

ITS MIXED POPULA TION. 3 1 1

The interior of Kashghar much resembles that of Yar-
kand in the character of its architecture, but the streets
are narrower, and more crowded with life and activity.
The city is much smaller than Yarkand, but has a brisker
trade, and its shops display a richer assortment of goods.
Its people too have a much more healthy and robust look,
and do not suffer so much from goitre. In the centre of
the city, opposite the Dadkhwah's orda, is a new masonry
sarae built by the Amir. This and the or da are the only
decent looking buildings we saw in the whole place.
The merchants here are all Eussian and Khocand traders,
and in the bazars are seen many Manchu, and Khitay,
and Tungani. The features of the citizens themselves
are more distinctly Tatar than in Yarkand, and present
a homogeneous type, unmixed with the Aryan forms of
the Badakhshi, Wakhi, Kashmiri, and Panjabi, which are
found in the southern city.

We returned from our visit to the Dadkhwah highly
pleased with his hospitality, and subsequently made
several excursions to the city, with a confirmation of the
favourable impression made on the first occasion. Its
streets and bazars always presented a scene of life and
activity on week-days as well as market-days. This is
probably due to the garrison located outside for whose
convenience omnibus carts ply daily between the city
and the fort gates.

On the 18th December we witnessed a review of the
Khitay or " Chinese troops " in the service of the Amir,
on the wide parade-ground some way to the north of our
Eesidency. It lies along the right bank of the Kizil Su,
and is covered with target butts in all directions, the
practice at which during our stay was constant.

There were twenty-eight companies of fifty men
each on the ground ; and they were divided into two

3i2 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

brigades of Tungani and Yangi Musalmans, both under
the command of the Kho Dalay of the latter, to whom the
Mah Dalay of the former acted as a second in command.
The men differed little in dress, and not at all in features
or language, and wore loose cotton robes, and a hand-
kerchief tied round the head with two ends flapping
over the ears. They manoeuvred systematically by signs
made with little flags which were waved by fuglemen in
attendance on the Kho Dalay, who with the Mah Dalay
occupied a position in the centre of the field, where the
band took its stand.

Each company carried two standards of a triangular
shape, and of two bright colours — red and white, or yellow
and blue, or green and white, &c. — and the men were in
sections of five, the complement required for the service
of the tyfu, which was the only weapon they carried.
This was a heavy wall piece, and not unlike a duck gun.
It was carried on the shoulders of two men, and fired
by the rear man, the barrel being rested on the shoulder
of the front man, who knelt for the purpose ; whilst the
other three in turn sponged, loaded, and primed the pan.

The evolutions consisted of marching and counter
marching, forming column and line, and volley firing in
the last formation. The skirmishing was done by a
different set of men who were clad in a peculiar uniform.
One company of these wore Grecian helmets, and carried
bows and arrows. They discharged these last at the im-
aginary enemy, and then retreated behind the line, widen
now fired a volley into them. As the smoke cleared away
a company of pikemen came forward, and piked the
fallen enemy as they were supposed to lie on the ground.
Then the whole line retreated covered by a company of
shield men dressed in yellow clothes — jacket, trowsers,
and cap all in one piece — with bars of black, and caps

EXERCISE OF CHINESE TROOPS. 313

with ears to represent tigers. The buckler of their shield
was a gun barrel, and they loaded and fired it very dex-
terously in the midst of their performances. Their duty
was to retard the cavalry by dispersing their charges.
This they did by cutting antics and capers, and by
flourishing their big shields (which were brightly painted
with dragon's heads) and shouting, and then suddenly
turning somersaults, or rolling on the ground and firing
their gun-barrels as they did so, or dropping torpedoes
with slow matches which exploded all over the field.
And finally, as they retired, they stopped here and there
to sabre with their swords some fallen trooper. On
the conclusion of manoeuvres such as these the troops
formed column, and marched past the Kho Dalay and
his staff, whilst the band played some military music.
Their instruments were drums and flageolets and
cymbals ; and the big drum was carried on a frame of
wood by two men. They then marched off the ground
to their respective quarters — the Yangi Musalmans to
their own fort on the river bank, .and the Tunganis to
their barracks near the city.

We were after this invited to a Chinese breakfast which
the Kho Dalay had prepared for us in a tent pitched on
the field, and divided our attention between the good
things set before us and the athletic exercises performed
by the band boys and tigers, who were summoned to
the front for our entertainment. They displayed a great
deal of skill and dexterity in single stick, cudgelling,
sword-swinging, and tumbling and kicking, and ended
with a theatrical scene in which their shields were held
in the form of a castle. This was assaulted by a party
of the others, and a stiff body carried head and heels
over its walls with a very clever run was the finale. The
Kho Dalay 's entertainment now claimed our undivided

314 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

attention, and bewildered us with the variety of meats
crowded together, and succeeding one the other in rapid
succession. The breakfast was laid on a low table round
which were set stools, and it covered every inch of its
surface with the most opposite sorts of dishes, amongst
which there was barely room for the little saucer plates
from which we were to eat. These were placed round
the sides, each with its soup-spoon of china, its chop-
sticks, and its napkin of paper. This last was neatly
folded in a sort of book cover inscribed with a motto
in Chinese characters, and said to mean " Good appetite.
Good digestion " on one side, and stuck with a toothpick
on the other.

There were toasted almonds and walnuts and pistacios,
with mince pies, jam tarts, preserved fruits, syrups and
pickles to begin with. Then came rich soups, and stewed
meats, and pilao, and then roast goose, and roast joints,
with vegetables cooked simply, and in the thick sauce of
the yam or sweet potato. There were different sorts of
bread and pastry, and the yil kazan, a sort of " pot-au-
feu " in the shape of a tea urn with a broad cover. In
the central cylinder were live embers kept glowing by
the vent holes below — the arrangement which gives the
utensil its name-Hand in the space around it was a per-
fect salmagundi of all sorts of meats, and vegetables, and
pastes stewed together in very tasty melange.

It seemed as if our host was determined to give us
at a single coup the full battery of his national cuisine
in all its wide range, and he certainly succeeded in con-
vincing us of the superior skill of his chef. There was
not a single dish of the many which had not its special
merit and excellence.

There are altogether about three thousand of the old
Khitay and Tungani troops now here in the service

FATE OF THE CHINESE GARRISONS. 315

of the Amir. The latter number about a third of the
whole, and are mostly employed in the garrisons of
the city, and frontier posts of Chacmac in company with
Andijan troops. The latter, though all Yangi Musal-
mans nominally, are not trusted, and are only employed
to furnish sentries at the Yangishahr, and different bar-
racks.

They are the sole relics of the Chinese army which held
the country, and have survived the massacres and sieges
of the revolution to live out their lives under the favour
accorded them by the Amir. Their history is a strange
exception to the course of events which succeeded each
other with such uniform repetition in all the other states
of the territory. The Amban, with the Kho Dalay, and
other Chinese officers, civil and military, and eight thou-
sand Khitay, of whom one-half were soldiers, shut him-
self up in the mangshin, or Yangishahr — or, as it is
usually called by the Tatars, Yangicorghan (New Fort)
— as soon as he heard of the outbreak of the revolution
at Yarkand in the spring of 1863. In it he held out
against the repeated assaults of the Kirghiz under Sadie
Beg, and of the Andijanis under Coshbegi Yacub Beg
(now the Amir) until, the pressure of famine leading to
treachery in the garrison, he blew up his palace, and with
his family and officers perished in its ruins after having
bravely held out against all odds for full two years.

The mangshin was one of that series of forts which
the Chinese built outside the cities of Kashghar, Yangi
Hissar, Yarkand, and Khutan, to separate their troops
from the citizens, after the Khoja revolt under Jahangir
in 1826, and during which their former forts, called
Gulbagh, had been destroyed. They were strongly built,
and protected by a deep ditch, and were always kept
provisioned ; for they were in each place the residence

316 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

of the Amban, and Chinese officers with their families,
and troops.

Here at Kashghar, the besieged garrison had from time
to time opportunities of foraging the suburbs, and getting
in supplies during the contest for the possession of the
city between Sadie Beg and Cutlugh Beg who was the
Wang, or Musalman governor appointed by the Chinese.

When Khoja Buzurg Khan arrived with his small party
under command of Coshbegi Yacub Beg, the city was
made over to him by the Wang, but the Amban held
out in his fort. The rivalry that now broke out between
the Kirghiz chief and the Andijani leader prevented a
proper siege of the fort at that time ; and then other
claimants for the possession of Kashghar appearing in
the field on the part of the king Eashuddin, who was
established at Acsu, a further delay occurred. For the
Andijanis were now involved in other operations which
carried them down to Yarkand, after they had defeated
the Acsu army at Khan Aric.

Their attempt to secure Yarkand failed, and then the
Coshbegi fell back to press the siege of Yangi Hissar,
where a garrison of two thousand Khitay still main-
tained themselves in the mangshin. The place was
taken after forty days by mining and assault, and most
of the garrison perished in its defence, or were put to
the sword in its sack after capture. The women and
children were made captives of war, and about two
hundred men saved their lives by accepting Islam.

A messenger was sent off by Yacub Beg to report
this victory to Alim Culi, who was at the time engaged
against the Kussians at Tashkand, and amongst the
presents he carried were nine Khitay virgins for the
Capchac chief. On arrival at Khocand, however, the
messenger heard of Alim Culi's death, and the capture

CHINESE CONVERTS TO ISLAM. 317

of Tashkand by their enemy, and his fair captives with
others, and the presents were seized by Mirza Ahmad
and Beg Muhammad, who at this juncture combined to
try and secure the government of Khocand for themselves.

Meanwhile Yacub Beg, with a force greatly increased
by adventurers from Badakhshan and Khocand, and
favoured by the aid of a truce with Sadie, set to press
closely the siege of the Kashghar Fort, which had
hitherto been very lax. And he took it in the autumn
of 1865, with the connivance of the Kho Dalay who com-
manded the Khitay troops forming its garrison. He had
arranged, through the mediation of his Musalman secre-
tary and interpreter, to deliver up the fort and accept
Islam on promise of being spared his life, and being
allowed to take his family and adherents with him.
On the conclusion of his plans, he informed the Amban
of the course he had adopted, and advised his acquies-
cence to the surrender.

But the Amban, horrified at the proposal, and hope-
less of escape, immediately set fire to his palace, and
perished in its flames amidst the explosion of the
powder already stored in it. Yacub Beg, on finding
how matters went, called out his troops to take posses-
sion of the place, and sent messengers to protect the
Kho Dalay. He and his family, with some three thousand
Khitay troops and women, were taken under protection ;
and then the Andijan soldiers, rushing in, put the rest
to the sword, and for seven days plundered the houses.

Yacub Beg now restored order, had a mosque built on
the site of the Budhist temple, and his orda on that of
the Amban's palace ; and before the completion of the
latter installed himself in it, and signalised his assump-
tion of independent authority by a round of festivities, in
the course of which he married the daughter of the Kho

3i8 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Dalay, who, with his men, was apportioned a residence
in a small enclosed barrack in an isolated position on
the other side of the Kizil river. He here kept them as
a sort of trump card during his rebellion against his
master the Khoja, and when, subsequently, he seized and
made prisoner of Buzurg Khan, and assumed the govern-
ment for himself, he kept faith with the Khitay, and
enrolled them as troops in his army.

The Kho Dalay was restored to his former position
over them, and entrusted with their entire control, with
power of inflicting death upon such as merited it.
Musalman priests were quartered amongst them to teach
them the formulae of the new creed, but in other respects
they were left to their own customs, so far, at least, as
they were in accord with the requirements of Islam.

Amidst the violence, and cruelties perpetrated in the
name of Islam against these people in all parts of the
country, this exceptional instance is a testimony greatly
to the credit of the Amir. For though they are not
trusted, and are more than suspected of keeping up their
Budhist rites in the secrecy of their dwellings, the for-
lorn situation of these Khitay converts is taken into
account, and they are generally treated with considera-
tion, so far as the nature of their case admits.

After the review of these troops, we witnessed the
practice of a battery of artillery, commanded by a native
of the Panjab who had been serving different masters in
Central Asia since the time of the Sikhs, when he first
left his own country. The gunners were mostly Afghans
and Panjabis, and seemed a handy though rough set of
men. The horses that drew the carriages appeared the
most commendable part of the equipment.

We saw no infantry troops in the country, nor any
regularly drilled or equipped regiments. In fact the

DXESS OF THE AND1JAN SOLDIER. 319

troops all ride, and in the battle field dismount to fight.
And in their fighting, or marching costume they are
droll objects to the unaccustomed eye. All their loose
flowing robes are tucked into the capacious overalls
which are fastened about the waist tightly, and give the
wearer the appearance of a bolster tied in the middle,
and toddling about on two short stumps. However
unsoldierly the appearance of the men, the dress is not
without its merits in the country. It keeps the body
warm, and admits of the riders tumbling off from, and
into their saddles with surprising agility..

CHAPTER X.

ON Christmas eve the Amir sent each of us a lambskin
juba covered with Khocand silk. No two were alike in
the bold patterns of their designs, and, enveloped in
their comfortable folds, we might easily have passed
muster as part of his own body guard, if we could but
sit on our heels without moving, and look solemn with-
out speaking by the hour together.

On new year's eve he sent over similar warm clothing,
only covered with linsey instead of silk, for each of our
followers. The mark of his good- will was very gratify-
ing and well-timed, for the thermometer had for some
days been in the habit of sinking several degrees below
zero, and giving a day maximum of only three or four
degrees below the freezing point.

On Christmas day we went to see some target practice
with the tyfu by the Khitay, and some artillery practice
by the battery we saw a few days ago. The former
made some very fair shooting at two hundred and fifty
yards range. On its conclusion our Guides' escort dis-
played the power of their Sniders, and astonished the
people with their tent -pegging and sword -cutting.
Hardly a spear went by without carrying off its peg,
whilst the succession of turnips which fell to their
swords elicited a hum of approbation from the crowd.
The crowd of spectators seemed puzzled which to admire
most — the soldierly set-up of the men, and their splendid
horses, or the skill and dexterity of their exercises. On

THE SHRINE OF HAZRA T A FA C. 321

our return to the Kesidency, we found its court occupied
by quite a menagerie of wild animals and tame, which
had been sent as a present to the envoy by Alish Beg
Dadkhwah. There were two fighting rams ready to
knock anybody off his legs, or the senses from each
other's heads, and there was a huge stag (mardl) stalk-
ing about the yard with two men holding the ropes that
stretched on either side his antlers. There were four
timid gazelles pacing round and round the court in
search of a way of escape, and there was a fox squeezing
himself against the wall for a hiding, and there was a
snow pheasant apparently quite at home on the scene.

The Amir had before this sent us presents of game
and fruits, and amongst the former pheasants, and hares,
and wild duck, and partridges very like the several Euro-
pean species. And subsequently we received many camel
loads of ovis Poli and ibex, brought in at intervals from
the hills to the north and west. They usually arrived
frozen stiff in the positions they had assumed during the
journey, or when loaded. They were magnificent speci-
mens, and we preserved their skins and horns and brought
them back with us to India.

On the 30th December we made an excursion to the
shrine of Hazrat Afac, which is situated two or three
miles to the north of the city. The road beyond the
bridge over the Tuman river passes along the side of a
vast cemetery which is kept in very good order, and
is inhabited by a colony of filthy beggars — veritable
dwellers amongst the dead — who claim their blackmail
from the passers by in no uncertain tone. It then
enters the gardens and fields attached to the shrine,
which is the most important in the country, being the
resting-place of its patron saint, Khoja Hidayatallah,

who is better known by his priestly title of Hazrat

x

322 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

Afac, " The Most High Presence," and, in the history
of the country, is conspicuous as the founder of the
Khoja rule such as it was.

The mausoleum, with its attached monastery, was
restored and greatly enlarged by himself over the grave
of his father, which had been destroyed and burnt by
the Calmac invaders ; and, on its completion, he was
invited by his son, who, as governor of Kashghar, was
charged with its construction, to come and bless the
opening ceremony. The aged saint, however, sustain-
ing his miraculous character to the last, sent a reply
that he was coming immediately to lay his bones there ;
and within twenty-four hours, it is said, his body was
carried from Yarkand to Kashghar for burial, attended
by 10,000 of his family, and domestics, and retainers.
He died in the retreat of his palace in the beginning of
last century whilst in the act of theological conversation
with some of his disciples. On his death broke out that
family dissension which, in a few years, led to the
destruction of their ill-acquired, and worse maintained
government, and the final dispersion and expulsion from
the country of the whole fraternity of these shameless
impostors, and vile libertines.

But so great was the influence the Khojas had acquired
over the minds of the people that, during the two cen-
turies of the Calmac and Khitay (both Budhists) rule,
their intrigues and their rebellions kept the territory in
a more or less constant state of disaffection and turmoil.
And finally, on the overthrow of the Chinese authority —
from a cause independent of the Khoja intrigues which
had so repeatedly before involved them in costly mea-
sures for their repression — it was a lineal descendant of
this saint who emerged from his retreat in Khocand to
recover the patrimony of his ancestors; a possession which

ACCOUNT OF THE KIIOJAS. 323

neither he, nor his successors, ever enjoyed otherwise
than as governors subordinate to the foreign rulers.

Of the lull which at this period — immediately preced-
ing the Tungani revolt — came over the previous activity
of the expatriated Khojas in Khocand, we are reminded
by the fact that, a year and a half elapsed between the
outbreak of the Tungani rebellion, and the appearance of
the Khoja Buzurg Khan as claimant of the government
by right of heritage ; and then only on the invitation of
the unsuccessful Kirghiz pretender, Sadie Beg. Of the
causes which produced this tardy action on the part of
the Khojas — I mean the heirs of the former governing
family, and not the priests of Acsu who enjoyed the
same proud title, and in the tide of the Tungani revolt
rose to the surface for a time as controllers of the affairs
of the country about their own home — the decline of their
influence after the establishment of the Russians on the
northern side of the Tianshan affords sufficient explana-
tion, coupled with the memory of the tyranny perpetrated
during the last Khoja invasion under Wali Khan. But
what mainly operated in checking their ardour against
Kashghar on this occasion was the attitude at that time
assumed by Eussia towards Khocand, and the fact of
the annexation of its northern parts being actually in
course of progress by her troops.

These events so engrossed the attention of the Andi-
janis in the defence of their own homes, that the Khojas
and their affairs were uncared for ; and when Buzurg
Khan got permission from Alim Culi to quit his army
assembled for the defence of Tashkand, to try his chance
in recovering Kashghar, he could raise no more than
sixty-six men to link their fortunes with his, although
he had Coshbegi Yacub Beg given to him as a general
by Alim Culi.

324 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

On his arrival at Kashghar the city was immediately
surrendered to the Khoja. He installed himself in the
orda as king, and making over the control of affairs to
his general, devoted himself to the pursuit of pleasures
which soon deprived him alike of the respect of his
followers, and of the people who had surrendered the
country to him. He was deposed by his own general,
and, after being kept prisoner for several months, was
finally sent out of the country to go to Mekka, but in--
stead of doing so he took his way back to Khocand. Of
the other Khojas of his family who on this occasion came
over from Khocand, Eshan Khan, Wali Khan, Kichik
Khan, and another died during the military operations
that established Yacub Beg in the possession of the
country.

After he had deposed Buzurg, and assumed the title of
Atalik Ghazi, or " Patron crescentader," the Amir, as
part of the scheme for reviving the decayed Islam of the
country, restored all the shrines and monasteries which
had fallen into neglect and decay under the Chinese
rule. And amongst the first to be so rebuilt and en-
larged were those of Hazrat Afac, Bibi Miryam, and
Sultan Satoc in the suburbs of Kashghar.

At each of these spots he built a new mosque, and
college, and almshouse, and, renewing their original en-
dowments granted other rent-free lands for their support.
These establishments are all very neatly and substantially
built of bricks and mortar, and are with the new saraes
for merchants, the only really durable structures we saw
in the country. There are, it is said, nearly sixty of
these religious establishments which have been built and
repaired by the Amir.

The college, mosque, and almshouses attached to the
shrine of Hazrat Afac are, taken all together, a very ex-

REVIVAL OF ISLAM. 325

tensive range of buildings for this country, and shelter a
population of about three hundred souls. The instruc-
tion imparted in them is entirely of a religious nature,
and conducted by a numerous staff of priests.

The shrine itself stands in the centre of a court which
is entered under a lofty archway covered with Arabic in-
scriptions on glazed tiles of blue and white, and is con-
tained inside an oblong building which was not opened
to us. Its walls also are coated with glazed tiles ; and
its roof is flat and shows a small forest of poles, topped
with brass pointers below which are fixed yak tails. All
along the coping above, and on the ledge near the floor
below are ranged horns of the ibex, stag, wild sheep, and
gazelle ; and some of them are of extraordinary size. A
stag's horn of grand proportions elicited the admiration
of the envoy, and was sent to him as a present by the
superior of the establishment, Mutawalli Bashi, Sultan
Mahmiid Eshan.

He received us on arrival at the gateway through
which we entered the grounds of the establishment, and,
after conducting us over it, entertained us at a frugal
dasturkhwan spread in a tent which had been erected
for us on a small platform of earth that stood near a
frozen tank around which grew some very fine silver
poplars. There was a grove of these trees in the court
of the shrine, and some extensive fruit-gardens and
vineyards surrounded the group of buildings, and con-
veyed the idea of a very agreeable retreat in summer.

Our host, the Superior, had lived in Constantinople
many years, and had visited Jerusalem and Mecca. He
treated us with extreme deference, and told us that, by
favour of Badaulat (the Amir), we were the first Christians
who had ever set foot within the sacred precincts. The
little gold pieces of conciliation which we dispensed

326 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

amongst the darvash and priests at the different places
we came in contact with them bore excellent fruit, and
we found free access to all the most sacred shrines in
the vicinity, and as the king's guests were everywhere
received with respect, and the dasturkhwan of welcome.
This freedom from prejudice — if the conduct was not in
obedience, as an exceptional case, to the Amir's com-
mands— is more than we could have hoped for, and is
more than we find in other Muhammadan states, or even
in our own India.

The Hazrat Afac, by a visit to whose shrine we have
been so highly favoured, is described by a cotemporary
author and disciple, a resident of Yarkand, as a prophet
second only to Muhammad, and as a miracle worker
equal to Jesus. His fame was spread over the land
from the borders of Eussia to those of China, and from
the Steppes of Tatary to the plains of Hindustan. And
his disciples from all these quarters paid him tribute as
a free-will offering.

Nearer home, however, they appear to have lacked in
such one-minded faith, and we read of scoffers and
railers who charged him with hypocrisy, and taunted him
with robbing his dupes to keep his concubines in silks
and brocades, and his palace youths in gilded crowns
and jewelled cinctures ; and of others who denied his
miracles because he did not cure them of their maladies,
and did not banish evil from the country.

The author, Khaliduddin, from whose work I have
taken these particulars, and who was after the death of
the saint attached to the monastery in connection with
his tomb, was not amongst these unbelievers, and, in
support of the veracity of his great teacher's character,
relates how swiftly the scoffers were overtaken by the
just punishment of their infidelity. One of these, a

WORKING OF MIRACLES. 327

powerful noble of Yarkand, was choked to death at the
dasturkhwan of him whom, on the way to partake of
his hospitality, he had wantonly traduced. His brother
and friends immediately falling at the feet of their host
offered all their possessions and wealth, and implored
him to resuscitate the defunct sinner. The saint with
a benign glance bade his neighbour strike him on the
throat, and with the blow out came the dislodged bone,
and the dead man returned to life. Through shame
he retired to privacy at Acsu for some years, and then
reappeared at court as a staunch supporter of the saint's
son and successor.

Such is a fair sample of the hundreds of miracles
attributed to this remarkable character, whose influence
upon the minds of the people was something extra-
ordinary. When he appeared amongst them in public
his glance seemed to mesmerise them. His disciples,
issuing from their houses on his approach, prostrated
themselves on the ground in his way, and gathered up
the dust from under his feet as some precious treasure.
Wayfarers stood still entranced ; and of the multitude,
some hailed him with shouts of delight, and others with
tears of joy. Some were excited into dancing wildly,
and others fell senseless in a swoon ; whilst all were per-
vaded with an ineffable sense of pleasure and security.
Amongst men he everywhere inspired a feeling of
reverential awe, and amongst women he exercised a
mysterious influence which penetrated to the privacy of
the most noble families.

Yet, with all these powers assigned to him, the country
was distracted by sedition and tumult during the whole
of his long career in it as governor of the territory from
Andijan to Turfan, and from Artosh to Khutan. And
after his death it was torn by the wars between his own

328 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

sons, and between the sons of the hereditary rulers whom
he had deprived of their just rights, until the Chinese
annexed the territory, and restored order amongst its
turbulent elements.

And now with the revival of Islam here, the fame of
this modern saint is raised from the oblivion into which
it was sinking to be perpetuated afresh, for the benefit of
the rising generation, amongst the glorious deeds of the
army of martyrs who in bygone centuries shed their
blood here in testimony of the faith they propagated.

On the last day of the year 1873, Col. Gordon, accom-
panied by Capt. Trotter and Dr Stoliczka, set out on an
excursion to Chacmac, and Capt. Biddulph at the same
time went off in the direction of Maralbashi. The
former party returned on the llth, having experienced
a temperature of 26° F. below zero ; and the latter on
the 23d January 1874, without having fallen in with
the tigers said to be found there, and of which animals
the skins sold in the city had raised hopes of a success-
ful bag. Meanwhile, on the 8th January, the envoy,
accompanied by Capt. Chapman and myself, spent the
afternoon, and dined with our friend Haji Tora at his
residence at Pakhtaghlik. It is a neat garden-house,
situated on the plain about a mile or two to the north-
west of the fort, and was the residence built for the
Amir whilst he was engaged in the siege of the Yan-
gishahr which he now occupies.

The dinner was served entirely in the European
fashion, which our host said he hoped to be able to
introduce amongst his countrymen. There were none
of them present, however, to meet us and see how the
spoons, and knives, and forks, and glasses were used, or
to admire the white table-cloth and napkins ; nor yet to
taste of the rich and savoury dishes prepared by his

DINNER WITH HAJI TORA. 329

Constantinople cook. Our host did the honours of his
table alone, and by his pleasant and profitable conver-
sation, in the absence of other interest, produced a
feeling of satisfaction that we had him all to ourselves.

On the table were set joints of roast beef and mutton
in dishes of China ware, and they were supported on
each side by decanters of what looked like milk and
water, but what was cumis. This is a fermented liquor
prepared from mares' milk, and has an agreeably acid
taste. It is only found amongst the Kirghiz, with whom
it is an every- day drink, and is considered very wholesome
and invigorating — qualities for which it is held in high
estimation by the luxurious and enervated inhabitants
of the cities. The Amir is very partial to it, and his
harem is daily supplied with it by his Kirghiz subjects.
This is the only supply that comes to the town, and his
highness now and then distributes it amongst those
whom he may please to favour. And it was to his fore-
thought that we were indebted for our acquaintance
with its properties on this occasion.

A couple of Turkish servants glided noiselessly back-
wards and forwards with eight successive courses, and
then set the now familiar ash and yil cazan of the das-
turJchwan upon the table. These in turn made way for
the cheese and fruits of the dessert, including some
of the first brought from the Turkish capital.

On the 27th January a single gun fired at sunset, on
the parade in front of the fort, announced the commence-
ment of the Idi Curban, or " Festival of (Abraham's)
Sacrifice," and another gun the next morning announced
the prayers which the Amir, attended by his Court, pro-
ceeded on foot to perform in the mosque on one side of
the parade ground. We witnessed the procession from
the roof of our Eesidency, which stood on the opposite

330 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

side of the parade, and observed the simplicity of dress,
and quiet demeanour which characterised the ceremony.
There were not so many people as one might have expected
in the procession, and there was no crowd of spectators at
all ; on the contrary, the ground was deserted except by
a few soldiers and servants of the palace. The next day
the envoy, attended by his officers, visited the Amir for
the customary congratulations, and out of compliment
we all appeared in the Andijan furs his highness had
very considerately presented to us. The ceremony was
conducted precisely as on previous occasions, and with the
same effects. It was refreshing to get out into the open air,
hear the hum of voices, and resume our wonted gaiety,
in place of the gravity assumed for the occasion in
accordance with the etiquette of the Atalik's Court.

On the 7th February we spent the afternoon and
dined with Ihrar Khan Tora, at his residence inside the
fort. As in the other case, so in this, our host had to
bear the burthen of our entertainment single-handed.
In the absence of other aid, the dasturkhwan and succes-
sive services of tea were opportune resorts to eke out
the long hours till dinner was announced. The enter-
tainment was in the Chinese fashion, and presented
a novelty which immediately engrossed our interest.
The table was set and served by a number of Khitay
servants — the Yangi Musalmans, as our host proudly
styled them — and did ample credit to their taste and
skill. The centre of the table was occupied in its length
by a row of china vases full of artificial flowers evi-
dently from Europe, and in alternation with them were
set plates on which were piled bits of melon and apple
cut and coloured in representation of roses, and tulips,
and so forth.

On each side of these were ranged handsome china

PARTY AT THE RESIDENCY. 331

saucers full of candied fruits, toasted almonds, walnuts
crusted with a paste of sugar, slices of melon sunk in
syrup, &c., and pickles of sorts, with salads of young
lentil sprouts. Each plate had its china ladle, chop-
sticks, and paper napkin as before described, and the
only thing wanting was the tumbler or drinking bowl
of some kind. This, to us necessary adjunct, was never
seen, either at the ordinary dasturkhwan or at the
set dinners. It seems that it is not the custom of the
people to drink whilst they eat ; but we observed that a
draught of water is taken at the conclusion of the meal
to wash all down.

In return for their hospitality, the envoy invited
Ihrar Khan Tora, and Alish Beg Dadkhwah to an enter-
tainment at the Embassy mess, at which our friend Haji
Tora had on previous occasions honoured us with his
company, though it was not his lot to do so on this.
To meet all tastes our messman, with the aid of Kho
Dalay's chef and Haji Tora's Constantinople cook, laid
on the table a composite dinner of English, Chinese and
Turkish dishes, carefully excluding from the feast such
items as are known to be proscribed by the Shara' ; so
that our guests were able to dine free from misgiving
as to the risk of their unwittingly partaking of for-
bidden things. The Tora had acquired the use of knife
and fork during his visit to India, and acquitted him-
self very fairly with them on this occasion, but the
Dadkhwah was as awkward with them as a growing
infant, and finally, after very good-natured persever-
ance, laid them aside for the more natural use of his
fingers. The Tora, not so free in thought and action
as his pilgrim peer in rank, on finding that our own
goblets were charged with wine, took occasion in the
presence of his companion guest to express a pious

332 KASHMIR AND KASHG&AR.

horror of the forbidden liquor, and begged that a cup
of tea might be set in place of the silver-plated vessel
which stood at the side of his plate. His example was
not unheeded by the Dadkhwah, who, after a curious
examination of the gilded interior and polished exterior
of the goblet placed for his use, quietly set it down and
asked for a bowl of water. The contents of some to them
very mysterious tin cases provoked serious misgivings
on the score of their lawfulness as food, so giving their
law the benefit of their doubts the pious Muslims denied
themselves the flavour of pate de foie gras and " pre-
served woodcock " to keep themselves undefiled from
meat killed contrary to canon.

Our guests, however, despite their punctilious Islam-
ism, found abundance of familiar and accustomed dishes
to invite their attention, and on the conclusion of the
entertainment went away highly pleased, and fully im-
pressed with the nature of the recreation we had pre-
pared for them as a sample of the English form of social
meeting. The model steam-engine, and the galvanic
battery, the air-pump, zootrope, gyroscope, and other
scientific toys which were set in action and explained
for their amusement during the afternoon ; the sounds of
the bagpipe which astonished their ears without entirely
distracting their attention from the array of meats set
before them at dinner ; and the wonders of the magic-
lantern which afterwards elicited their unqualified ap-
probation ; — all these and other similar modes of diver-
sion stocked their minds with a fund of matter for
reflection, and repetition as marvels beyond their ken,
as the mysterious agents of the Briton's power.

On the 14th February the envoy, leaving Col. Gordon
and Capt. Biddulph in the Eesidency, set out with the
rest of his officers on an excursion to Artosh, and the

THE SHRINE OF " LAD Y MAR K" 333

valleys at the foot of the Tianshan or Alatagh, and
returned after an interesting little tour on the 27th of
the month.

Our road took us through the ditched and fortified
cantonment bazar on the east of the Eesidency to the
Kizil Su, and which we forded stirrup-deep over a pebbly
bed a little way above a rough log-bridge. We then
turned N.W. to R, and passing along the cultivation of
Arawat and Besh Kirim on our left, at about ten miles
out, alighted at the shrine of Bibi Miry am or " Lady
Mary " for the inevitable dasturkhwan.

This is a shrine over the grave of Alanor (Eleanor ?)
Turkan the youngest of the three daughters of the
king whose mausoleum we are going to see at Altun or
" Lower " Artosh. Her elder sisters, Nasab Turkan
and Hadya Turkan, were married to influential divines
of the Sayyid family who were settled at Tashkand and
Samarcand, and there left families whose sons in their day
occupied prominent positions in the affairs of that country.

She herself was never married, and her history is one
of the most remarkable amongst the many marvellous
traditions of the martyr saints whose relics do here
abound in such multitude. As given in the Tazkira
Baglira Khan (which is not, as the name implies, only
a history of the Baghra Khan family, but an account of
the most noted of the martyr saints of the country he
ruled, translated into Turki from the original Persian of
Najumddin Attar, a co temporary priest of the eleventh
century) it is much to this effect : —

" The history of Alanor resembles that of Hazrat
Miryam the mother of Jesus. She was distinguished
alike for her beauty and talents as for her piety and
virtues. When she had attained to the fresh bloom of
maturity she was one night engaged in the seclusion of

334 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

her chamber with the performance of her wonted religi-
ous exercises, and the angel Gabriel appearing before
her poured a drop of light into her mouth. It pervaded
her whole body with a sense of ecstacy which made her
faint. On recovering her senses she completed her devo-
tions, and for some months continued to perform the
usual prayers with the prescribed regularity.

" At length one night she went out to the gate of her
dwelling, and was terrified into a swoon by the appear-
ance of a tiger standing before it. Finally, after some
months and days, on Friday the 10th Muharram (the
year is not given) when the king and his Court were
at prayers in the mosque, Alanor gave birth to a son
— an infant with ruddy complexion, gazelle eyes, and
angelic voice.

" On hearing of this the people both great and small
were amazed, and exclaimed ' What manner of event is
this ? ' But the king was mighty wrathful, and ordered
an assembly of his nobles and grandees, of his doctors
and divines, to investigate the conduct and pronounce
on the character of his daughter, the princess Alanor.

"She was fully questioned by her judges, and with a
detail of all the particulars explained the mystery to
their satisfaction. She was pronounced a chaste lady,
and favoured servant of the Prophet ; and the priests,
considering the apparition of the tiger as a token of
future fame, named the boy Sayyid 'AH Arslan (or 'The
Lord Exalted Tiger'). He was brought up under his
mother's care, and at the age of five years was sent to
school. After six months tuition he mastered all science,
apparent and occult, and at seven years of age was be-
trothed to his cousin Toe Bubu, who subsequently bore
him three sons and several daughters. The sons all
grew up to be men of note ; and one of the daughters

LEGEND CONNECTED THEREWITH. 335

married Sultan lylik, the king of Uzkand, and another
Sayyid Jalaluddin Shami."

The book from which I have taken the above parti-
culars further on gives the following account of the death
of Alanor. When her son was slain in fight against the
Chinese of Khutan at the Cum Shahidan and the victors,
besieging Kashghar threw his head against the walls,
she was so incensed with grief that she determined to
avenge his blood with her own hands. " Attended by
her maidens (Amazons for the nonce), she issued from
the seclusion of her palace at Artosh, and heaving cold
sighs of anguish entered the field of battle against her
foe. She sent twenty-five of their infidel souls to hell,
and then, overcome by their superior numbers, was put
to flight with her attendants. The ground in their
course miraculously opened, and received the fugitives
in the shelter of its caverns. Their pursuers following
close discovered their retreat and slew them all in their
hiding."

The shrine stands on the bank of a deep ravine, and
probably indicates the spot on which this fated party
met their death. It is called Mazar Bibi Miryam, or
" Shrine of Lady Mary," after the title by which she was
generally known in connection with the event of her
notoriety, and is surrounded by a number of more
humble graves within the low walls which enclose the
sacred area.

The legend attached to her name resembles that of
Alan Coa (the mother of Buzunjar Khan, the great
ancestor of the Mughal, and conqueror of the Turk in
Turan), as given in the Rauzat Assafa of Mir Khawind
Shah. Her case is compared to that of the mother of
Hazrat Isa or " Lord Jesus/' and to that of the "women
of the northern isles who conceived by bathing in certain

336 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

fertilising springs." But the medium in her case was a
ray of light entering through the opening in the top of
the Khargah, or tent, and passing into her mouth as she
lay asleep at night. She was a noted beauty, and was,
as a matter of course in such a case, accused of unchas-
tity. She proved her innocence, however, before a con-
vocation of all the Mughal nobles and chiefs by showing
to a select committee of them, appointed to investigate
the matter, the light as it again poured into her tent at
night.

The existence of these legends in this region at the
present day is a remarkably interesting circumstance.
Whether they are to be viewed as outgrowths of the
Christianity which formerly flourished here, or merely
as grafts from the Islam which took its place, or whether
their origin is from some other native source, anterior to
both, I will not pretend to consider; though I may state
that, as they are the records we find in the Muhamma-
dan histories of the region, they probably owe their
origin to the priesthood of Islam.

During the Chinese rule the shrine of Bibi Miryam
was neglected, and fell to decay ; but on the establish-
ment of the Amir's rule, it has, with scores of others, been
restored from its ruins, and is now raised to the first
rank amongst the religious institutions of the country
by the construction in connection with it of a mosque,
and college, and quarters for four Cari or " Eeciters of
the Curan." Attached to the mosque also is a set of
quarters for the accommodation of the Amir when he
visits the shrine.

By the good favour of His Highness these quarters
were placed at our disposal, and had been prepared for
our accommodation during the proposed stay here for
the night ; but, as the day was yet early, we decided to

RECEPTION AT ARTOSH. 337

go on to Artosh the same afternoon. All these build-
ings were completed only eighteen months ago, and
stand on their own ground, w^hich is enclosed by walls,
and entered through gates on two sides thereof.

We were met here by Musa Khoja, a young son of
Mahmud Khan the lord of Artosh, and he did the honours
of the dasturJchivan with unfeigned affability and good-
will. There was a tank here under some poplar trees
in front of the mosque, and seeing some men at work
on it with hatchets I went to see what they were about,
and found they were carrying away the ice in baskets
to store for summer use. Its thickness on the tank was
twenty-two inches. From the shrine our road went
north across a deep ravine on to a bare, wind-swept
waste, the surface of which was covered with little
gravelly knolls. These presented an abrupt bank to the
windward or north, and tailed away in slopes in the
opposite direction. Beyond them we crossed another
ravine, and then passing over a saline waste rose up to
the crest of a range of gravel ridges which separate
Artosh from Kashghar. It is called Cum Alatagh, and
extends for some fifteen miles from N.W. to S.E., and is
perfectly bare of vegetation. We crossed it near its
eastern end, and fording the two branches of the
Artosh river, and passing amongst the homesteads be-
yond, at about ten miles from the shrine, reached the
residence of our host at Mashhad.

Mahmud Khan received the envoy at the inner gate
of his mansion, where was drawn up a guard of forty
soldiers whose equipments was uniform only in their
white turbans and prong-rest guns, and conducting
him to his large reception hall welcomed us to his
home. It was noon when we left Kashghar, and it
was fast getting dark when we arrived here. By some

Y

338 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

mistake, our baggage had gone to Ostun Artosh or
" Upper Artosh," and did not arrive till next morn-
ing. Our host, however, made us comfortable with
bedding for the night, and, after the evening das-
turkhwan, and the usual rubber at whist in the light
of candles placed on the floor, we fed the fire for the
night, and, Tatar fashion, stretched ourselves to sleep
on the carpets all over the room.

Mahmud Khan traces his descent from the Sultan
Satoc Bughra Khan whose mausoleum stands close out-
side his dwelling, and gives the little township its name
of Mashhad — " The place of martyrdom." His family
have been lords of Artosh for seven centuries, and he is
now their humble representative. His fortune was
broken by the Chinese after they suppressed the revolt
in 1857 headed by Wali Khan. His father and two
brothers were captured and executed very barbarously
by the Chinese, in retaliation for the excesses they had
committed during the revolt, which they were the first
to join — the father having given his daughter, our host's
sister, in marriage to the rebel Khoja.

Mahmud Khan, with others of the family, escaped
a like fate by flight to Tashkand, whence they finally
returned in the party with Buzurg Khan. He has been
restored by the Amir to his ancient patrimony, much
curtailed, however, of its former extent, in return for
his services in the conquest of the country; and he
is now retained in the service of the Amir as leader
of 400 horsemen whom he maintains on his own estate.
He is a middle-aged man, and has strongly marked
Tatar features of the pure Uyghur stamp, with a
fair ruddy complexion very slightly tinged yellow.
His manners are very quiet and unassuming, but his
features are cast in an austere mould the impression

HISTORY OF SATOC BAGHRA KHAN. 339

of which was not removed by civilities to us. He
has three sons, the eldest of whom, Abdurrashid, is
custodian of the family shrine. The second, Musa, is
enlisted in his body guard, and accompanied us in our
tour through his father's demesne. The third is a child
of eight years of age.

On the day after our arrival we visited the shrine,
and ranged its courts and cloisters with perfect freedom
as the guests of the king. The tomb itself we did not
see, as the door of the building covering it was closed,
and guarded by two aged priests, who, seated in front
of it, were repeating prayers with great volubility. This
mausoleum consists of a lofty dome supported on a
square structure, at each corner of which is a small
belfry-like tower topped with a cupola. The whole is
covered with glazed tiles of blue, green and yellow
ranged in cross lines. The door is lofty, and fills a nar-
row arch on the east face. Its sides are covered with
Arabic inscriptions, and the date 1244 H (1838 A.D.),
which appears amidst the writing on one side, indicates
the renovation of the building under the rule of Zuhu-
ruddin, at that time the Musalman governor of Kash-
ghar under the Chinese.

Satoc Baghra Khan (born 944 A.D.), was the son of
Tangri Cadir Baghra Khan who died during an expedi-
tion against Bukhara. He was six years old when his
father died, and, with his widowed mother, was taken
under the protection of his uncle, Harun Baghra Khan,
who succeeded to the throne at Kashghar. At twelve
years of age he accepted Islam at the hand of Abu Nasr
Samani, a proselytising merchant soldier, who entered
the country with a caravan of 300 men from Bukhara
by way of Andijan, and took up his quarters at Artosh,
at that time a flourishing trading mart.

340 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

The account given in the Tazkira Baghra Khan is to
the effect that Satoc one day went out a-hunting with
forty attendants on the plain near Artosh. He started
a hare, and giving chase got separated from his followers.
The hare, heedless of the arrow strung at him, stood,
and assuming the form of a man, said, " Come ! my
son ! I am waiting for you. God be praised I have
found you alone. Come to me. Dismount. I have a
few words to say."

Satoc (the name signifies "merchant"), astonished at
the apparition, dismounted and knelt before the man,
who then thus addressed him.

" My son ! Why hold to such idolatry ? You
know your creator's name is Muhammad. Walk in
his way."

The youth thought to himself, " What man is this
who speaks thus ? There is no such person here. Whence
comes he ? " and then addressing the figure, he said,
11 What is it you tell me, 0 sage ? "

The venerable man replied, " My son ! 0 blessed
youth ! I wish not your tender body in hell-fire. It
grieves me." And Satoc asks, " What sort of place is
hell? Osage!"

" Hell," replied the great man, " is a place of much
fire, and full of scorpions, where unbelievers and sinners
are drawn in and tortured in every way."

Fear seized the heart of the youth, and he ex-
claimed, " Tell me, 0 sage ! and I will do what you
say."

The sage repeated the creed, " There is no god but
God, and Muhammad is the prophet of God."

" What are these words ? " asked Satoc. " What do
they mean ? " The sage replied, " My son ! By repeating
these words you become a Musalman, and go to para-

HIS CONVERSION TO ISLAM. 341

dise, where are beautiful youths, and maidens, and wine.
By refusing to repeat them you go to hell, and endure
all sorts of torments."

"Satoc accepted Islam, and repeating the creed, be-
came a Musalman. He asked the sage to teach him the
faith, but he told him his appointed instructor would
very soon arrive, and conduct him into the perfect
way, and then suddenly disappeared. Some say this
personage was the minister of Iskandar Padshah, and
some that he was Dajal ul ghayb Khoja Zinda, and
others that he was an angel, but the truth is he was
the prophet Khizr."

The account then goes on to say that some days later
Satoc again went out a-hunting with his forty men, and
on arrival at Bacu in Ostun or " Upper " Artosh, found
a caravan of well dressed and highly favoured foreigners
camped on the meadow. He drew near to see who they
were, and was accosted by their leader, Abu Nasr
Samani, who, recognising in Satoc the prince he had
come in search of, praised God, and, turning to his fol-
lowers, pointed to the object of their journey, and told
them their purpose was accomplished. He bid them
open their bales and bring out the presents, and mean-
while invited the prince to his tent. In the midst of
this was heard the muazziris call to prayer, and all at
once leaving everything just as it happened to be, the
whole caravan ranged themselves in the performance of
their prayers.

Satoc was wonder-struck at the ceremony, and the
confidence of the foreigners in a strange country, leaving
their property thus unprotected for their devotions. He
dismounted, and, on the conclusion of the prayers,
learning the name of their leader, he knew by in-
stinct that he was the teacher the prophet Khizr had

342 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

foretold, and forthwith declaring himself he accepted
Islam from him.

Abu Nasr instructed him secretly for six months in
the doctrines of the religion, and then his uncle Harun,
discovering his apostasy, decided on killing him. But
his mother intervening claimed that her son should first
be put to the test to prove his innocence. The king was
just then about to build an idol temple, and Satoc, in
proof of his adherence to the national faith, was sum-
moned to appear on a certain day, and, in the presence
of an assembly of the nobles and grandees, to lay the
foundation of the temple of their god.

He consulted his teacher in the matter, and was
advised to conform to the king's command, with a mere
mental reflection that the stones he set were those of a
mosque, and not those of an idol temple. " For/' said
his instructor, " where one's own safety is concerned, the
perpetration of certain unlawful acts is permissible, and
in this case, provided in your mind you consider the
foundations as those of a mosque, the setting of the
bricks will be an act acceptable to God, and meritorious,
as enabling you to escape the wiles of the infidel."

Satoc acquitted himself to the satisfaction of Harun
and his Court, and was acknowledged as free from sus-
picion. He soon after with the aid of Abu Nasr and 600
men, to which number, during the six months of their
stay here, his party had swelled by the accession of new
converts and adherents, surprised the king's palace at
night, and equipping his men from the royal armoury,
fled with 400 horses to the hills of Tawa tagh (Camel
hill) on the north of the city.

In the morning Harun and his army, awaking from
the deep sleep into which a miraculous answer to the
prayer of Abu Nasr had thrown them, discovered the

DEATH OF SATOC. 343

rebellion of the prince, and without delay took the field
against him. Many desperate battles were fought, and
thousands of infidels were slain, whilst at the same
time thousands of new converts joined the rebels.

After some days of fighting, the army of Islam became
hard pressed for provisions, and began to waver in its
steadfastness to the new cause. Abu Nasr now, to
satisfy the impatience of his troops and check the dis-
content of his followers, made a night attack upon the
city. The enterprise proved successful, Harun was killed
by his nephew, who then mounted the throne as king of
Kashghar. And he forthwith declared Islam the law of
the land. He converted 20,000 citizens in a day, and
established the SharcC throughout his territory. His
miraculous deeds of valour on this occasion were many,
but the two most so were these. His sword, which in
its sheath was like that wielded by other men, when
drawn against the infidels lengthened to forty yards,
and mowed them down like corn before the sickle.
When he charged amongst the enemy flames of fire
issued from his mouth and consumed many, and terri-
fied more to fall at his feet and become Musalmans.

He lived to the age of ninety-six years, and waged
Avars for the propagation of Islam during all his long
reign, and established its law up to Caracoram in the
north-east, and to Turmiz on the Amu river in the south-
west. He was carrying his successes into Khita, but
he got ill at Turf an, and returned to Kashghar, where,
after lingering a whole year, he died (1037). On his
death-bed he resigned the government, and care of his
family to Abul Fattah, the son of Abu Nasr, and he died
three years later. He thus charged him : " This is my
last will to you. Hold fast the faith of the Prophet. I
commit the Sharfat to your care. Observe it strictly.

344 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

My children remain young. Educate them carefully so
that they commit no act to shame them before God
0 Abul Fattah ! copy me. Walk in my way and you
will attain to future honour. More than this I will not
say. In your prayers remember me. Hold high ambi-
tion and be manly. Seek aid of God and His Prophet.
Eemember me always and weep for me."

After this the aged king took leave of his friends and,
giving instructions for his burial, assured them that his
soul went only from one body to another, and died not.
" From a tray set before him he took a rose, and smelled
it ; he next took up a streaked red and white apple, and
ate it ; he then drank some sherbet from a goblet. He
repeated the creed, and standing up turned three times
in a circle and sang the Persian couplet —

A drop taken from the sea lessens not its volume,
The departing soul rends but the veil of its durance.

He then sat down and, straightening out his legs to-
wards the ccibla (the Mekka shrine), resigned his soul
with the close of day. He was buried at Mashhad in
Altun Artosh with great pomp. Two perfect saints,
seventy thousand learned men, twenty -two thousand
crescentaders, and fifteen thousand common people at-
tended the funeral ceremony." Some miracles are re-
corded as attending the mournful ceremony, and amongst
others, that the deceased monarch appeared in the flesh
to his faithful subjects some days after his burial to
cheer and exhort them to a stedfast adherence to the
faith of the Prophet, and united action for its propaga-
tion amongst the heathen.

Four years ago the Amir visited the shrine with all
his court, and performed the customary religious exer-
cises at the tomb of the royal saint with great ceremony
and devotion, to testify his thanks to God for the sue-

SPORT WITH THE HUNTING EAGLE. 345

cess vouchsafed to his arms. He besought a continuance
of the saint's blessing to his humble disciple in the pro-
pagation of Islam, and propitiated his favour by the
sacrifice to his memory of some hundreds of oxen, sheep,
horses, and camels, on which the poor of the vicinity
were feasted. He restored the ancient lands of the
monastery attached to the tomb, and built a college,
mosque, and almshouse around the shrine ; and enclosed
the whole within walls. We found about a hundred
boys and men in the college, and were told that two
hundred were borne on the rolls. It is as large an
establishment as that in connection with the shrine of
Hazrat Afac, and as there so here the' teaching is almost
wholly of a religious kind. A party of four or five
of the teachers who attended us over the establishment
received the gold pieces, or tila, presented by the envoy
with due deference, and holding up their hands invoked
a blessing on the donor, to which the crowd of students
replied Amin !

In the afternoon our host's huntsmen brought in a
wild pig which they had captured in the reed jungle
near Kol Taylac. She was a huge creature, and looked
a clean and powerful brute.1 A strong ridge of long
bristles ran down the spine, and a thick layer of short,
curly, soft wool grew at the roots of the smaller bristles
all over the body — encasing it, in fact, in a warm pad-
ding of crispy soft hair fully an inch thick on the back
and flanks. The short tusks were secured closed upon
a bit of wood in the mouth by strong cords, and the
animal was fastened down to a stretcher of rough poles
by a regular network of similar bonds.

A few days later, we had a day's boar-hunting near
Kol Taylac, and killed a very fine tusker with the aid of
the hunting eagle. We crossed the Fyzabad river on the

346 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

ice at about eight miles from the settlement, and entered
a thick jungle of reeds and tamarisks with about twenty
of our host's men, and two trained eagles. The men
armed themselves for the sport with clubs bent at the
end like hockey-sticks. As soon as the boar was started
one of the eagles was flown at him, and all the field fol-
lowed his flight with tremendous shouts and flourishing
of sticks. The bird followed the dodgings of his prey,
sailing close above the reeds, and pounced on him at the
first bit of open he came to with a sharp claw behind
which nearly upset him. The horsemen immediately
closing in from all sides, mobbed the brute thus checked
in his course, and stunned him with blows upon the
head, and then deliberately shot him. Our Andijani
attendants entered into the sport with great spirit and
some recklessness. They gave us a very interesting
account of the jirga, or hunting circle, which, in the
time of the Mughal Emperors, was a national custom ob-
served with state ceremony and minuteness of procedure.
Whole regiments were employed as beaters to a central
spot, and whole districts of hundreds of square miles
were included within the circle of their operations. All
people overtaken by the beaters were compelled to join
their ranks, and infringements of the laws of the chase
were visited with severe and exemplary punishment.
The Atalik, on return from his campaign against Turfan,
organised bjirga and beat up all the country between
Turfan and Acsu. Immense quantities of game of all
sorts were slain, and many of his men and officers lost
their lives and limbs by accidents of the sport.

Whilst engaged in this sport we put up a number of
pheasants in the cover of the brushwood, but a more impor-
tant business occupied our attention and they were left to
the enjoyment of their safety. The golden eagle which is

A DAY AFTER WILD BOAR. 347

in this country trained for sport is a magnificent bird of
immense strength. It is called card cuch and burghtit
by the natives, and is hooded and jessied in the same
way as the falcon ; but, owing to its great weight, is
carried on a cross-tree of wood which is held in the hand
and supported upon the pommel of the saddle. At
Yarkand we saw a large number of them, and the Dad-
khwah informed us he had had one of them in his pos-
session for nearly twenty-five years.

They are used equally for the pig, antelope, stag and
wolf, and any large game such as geese, herons, &c. ;
whilst the ordinary falcons of northern India (the baz,
cliargh, ladiin, &c.), which are also trained for sport in
this country, are used for hawking pheasants, bustards,
wild duck, &c., &c. On our trip round to the Sughun
valley we had some charghs with us, and they gave us
some very good sport with the hare and partridge. Dur-
ing our stay at Yarkand we went out with the Dad-
kh wall's eagles on one occasion after wild geese and herons
on the marsh to the east of the city. They were not,
however, in good condition, and only one out of fifteen
or sixteen showed us any sport with the herons, though
another of them very cleverly overturned, with a cuff
behind, some of the pariah dogs prowling about the city
purlieus at which he was flown for our amusement.

In the enclosure of our host's fortified dwelling we saw
some very fine specimens of the double-humped camel
of the country. They were noble looking creatures, and
nearly white in colour ; of small size with clean slim
limbs, and bushy shags of soft, woolly hair on the
shoulders, haunches, and throat ; the head was hand-
somely formed, and the eyes were large and intelligent.
They have a peculiar sharp cry, quite different from the
noisy murmur of the ungainly but useful brute we are

348 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

accustomed to in India. The deserts on the east of this
territory, in the vicinity of Lob between Turfan and
Khutan, are the home of the wild camel. It is still, as of
old, hunted there, and is described as a very vicious and
fleet animal, and of small size, not much bigger than a
large horse. A Kirghiz shepherd, who had resided for
some years at Lob, told me that he had frequently seen
them at graze, and had himself joined in many hunting
expeditions against them for the sake of their wool,
which is very highly prized for the manufacture of a
superior kind of camlet.

We left Artosh on the 17th, and went northward
through a gap in the range of gravel and clay banks
that separate it from Arghu (which is a narrow valley
similar to that of Artosh but much smaller), and, cross-
ing its cultivation near the village of that name, at
about eight miles came to a small outpost fort of the
Chinese, which is now held by a guard of twelve men of
the Artosh troops.

It stands on a small flat piece of ground at the
entrance to the Tangitar defile, and is surrounded by a
few fields of corn stubble, the last signs of cultivation in
this direction. Indeed, beyond Arghu there is no fixed
agricultural population, nor any trace of cultivation ex-
cept this bit. Here, just beyond the outpost, we entered
a long winding defile between hills of gravel and clay
resting upon limestone, and following up the course of
its brisk rivulet along a shelving bank covered with a
thick scrub of reeds, tamarisks, and thorny bushes, at
about ten miles arrived at Corghan Tangitar.

This is a small castellated fort built on the summit of
a rock at the entrance to the gorge which gives the place
its name, and is held by a garrison of twenty-two men.
On the rocks above on each side the entrance are four

ON THE SKIRTS OF THE TIANSHAN. 349

little redoubts which look up the gorge and command its
passage. They are almost inaccessible from the side of
the fort, and quite so from that of the gorge, and are
only capable of holding five or six men each.

There is a clump of willow and poplar trees on a small
ledge above the bank opposite the fort. It is called
Mazar Sugat Carawal, or " The shrine of the willow out-
post," and is said to mark the spot where Satoc, in one
of his many campaigns in the cause of Islam, miracu-
lously produced a spring of water for his thirsty soldiers,
by striking his sword upon the rock. This is a wild little
spot, and we saw it in its bleakest aspect. The dark
cleft of the gorge between high overhanging cliffs of lime-
stone rock stood before us in all the asperity of its reality,
and in the obscuring shades of evening grew into the
most gloomy object on the limited scene — fit abode of
the goblin and ghost with which local superstition
peoples its sombre and silent recesses.

The Corghan had been prepared for our accommoda-
tion, and five Kirghiz tents had been pitched for our
followers on the solitary bank below. We found the
little huts, however, so full of stable refuse and filth, and
so redolent of unwholesome smells, that we gladly ex-
changed their shelter for the little less dirty, and much
less efficient protection of the Kirghiz dwellings outside.
The evening set in cold and cloudy, and an icy north
wind, streaming out of the gorge, whistled through the
tatters of our felt acoe in a most uncomfortable manner,
and very quickly dissipated the charms of Kirghiz life
which our imagination had pictured. We had a taste
now of the reality of life in an acoe, and during the next
few days of our travel amongst them got a practical
experience of how the poor nomads fare, and with no
reason to envy their lot. Whatever the charms of a free

350 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

life on the boundless steppe may be I will not attempt to
divine, but content myself with the belief that it re-
quires special] training to appreciate them. A broiling
sun, blinding glare, and suffocating dust, are the accom-
paniments of the summer ; whilst a cutting wind, wither-
ing cold, and forced inactivity, with more or less of
snow, are the concomitants of winter. To face these
and live through them is the struggle of the nomad's
life, and to help him in the battle he has only the shelter
of a tattered and battered acoe, and the comfort of a
stupifying cumis brandy.

In the morning we passed through a corner of the
Corghan, and turning round an overlooking rock,
descended to the passage of the Tangitar just inside its
southern end, which was barricaded with cross-poles and
bundles of thorns propped together by loose boulders.
The Tangitar, or "Dark Strait," is a tortuous and
tight passage, from ten to thirty paces across, between
lofty cliffs of limestone. We found its stream frozen
hard, and after ten minutes' ride over its winding and
slippery surface, emerged from it on to a basin in which
three large drainage gullies meet from the N.W. and N.
and N.E. respectively.

We proceeded up the centre one, and presently rose out
of its bed on to a wide rolling pasture valley some eight
or ten miles wide by twenty long from west to east.
Across it to the north is seen the range of hills which
separate this plateau of Yalghuz Say from that of Ac
Say, which lies at a higher elevation and is the favourite
summer rendezvous of the Kirghiz camps, as this is the
winter retreat of some of them.

The hills have a very dreary look and are topped
thinly with snow. Bears are said to abound upon them,
and when hard pressed for food to live upon the marmot

CAMP AMONGST THE KIRGHIZ. 351

which they dig out of their burrows. At the present
time, however, their principal occupants are vast herds
of the wild sheep and ibex.

We went along the Say, or " Stony Pasture," a little
way, and then turned off eastward, and with the hawks
killed a number of hares and partridges in the scrub at
the foot of the hills. At about twelve miles from
Tangitar we alighted at a cluster of six or seven acoe
which had been prepared for us near a Kirghiz camp
that stood on the open plain in the vicinity of one of
their burying-grounds called Tigarmatti. These ceme-
teries generally have five or six large domed graves or
gumbaz, which at a distance deceive the stranger with
the hopes of an abode of the living, instead of the habita-
tion of the dead which he really finds them to be.

A few camels and horses, with horned cattle and sheep,
were scattered over the plateau around the camp, which
only numbered some twelve or fifteen tents, but all the
rest of its wide surface showed no signs of human life.
Our tents at this place were as wretched specimens of
human habitations as those at the last, and proved worth-
less as shelter from the weather except to the swarms of
vermin which nestled in the tattered felts of their walls
and floors and roofs. They were, in fact, simple man-
traps for the capture of fresh blood for these voracious
and vicious little creatures.

The night was clear and starlight, and a sharp north-
west wind swept over the plain. It blew off from the
acoe which I occupied the felt that covered the smoke-
hole in the centre of its roof, (which was a shallow
vaulted dome formed of ribs of willow wands concen-
trating from the circumference of the walls below to the
hoop of wood they supported above, and was covered in
by some large felts spread over it and secured by fasten-

352 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

ings round the circumference,) and immediately the cold
air poured in like so much icy water. It chilled the tent,
in which we had no fire, for the rest of the night, for
though stopped from above by the replacement of the felt
after a good deal of trouble, it poured through a dozen
holes in the ragged covering of the walls. Sleep, or even
rest, was banished by the acute pain of cold in the hands
and feet which completely outweighed the torments of
the vicious little creatures whose activity our presence
had aroused. Yet I was warmly clad in a huge sheep-
skin cloak worn over all the usual winter clothing of
England, and had my feet encased in capacious bags of
sheepskin with warm socks inside their coat of wool. In
the morning the minimum thermometer set outside the
tent registered the temperature at 20° below zero.

The Kirghiz nomads of the Artosh district are
reckoned at one hundred families. They are depen-
dents of the Khan, who styles them his Fucara or
" Poor." They certainly bear all the appearances of their
title, for of a party of some thirty men we saw here not
one had a look of independence or respectability. They
are not a fair sample, however, of their people. They
are poor outcasts from various camps of the Burut
Kirghiz who are now under Eussian rule, such as the
Chong Baghish, Sarigh Baghish, Sayak, Chirik, Kochin,
&c., whose steppes are on the north of the Alatagh.

The Kirghiz of Kashghar are reckoned at thirty thou-
sand tents, but of this number not more than a third are
acknowledged subjects of the Amir. The rest are
divided between the Eussians on the north, and the
Khan of Khocand on the west. Of those now attached
to Kashghar the Chong Baghish of Actagh, and the
Sayak of Caratagh are the most important camps, and
next to them the Nayman of Sarigh cul and Caracash.

BASH SUGHUN. 353

The Nayman, who are here reckoned at a thousand
tents, were formerly Nestorian Christians, and came here
from the north-east of Ila in the beginning of the thir-
teenth century with their prince Koshluk, who was
driven out of his own hereditary pastures by the rising
conqueror Changiz. Koshluk seized the government of
the Cara Khitay from their aged king Gorkhan and
established himself with his Nayman at Kashghar, and
waged a war against the people for the suppression of
Islam. He was soon, however, chased out of the country
and fled for shelter into the glens of Sarighcul and
Wakhan, where he was overtaken and slain by his
pursuers.

From Tigarmatti we marched to Bash Sughun or
" Head Sughun" — fifteen miles — and next day to Ayagh
Sughun or "Foot Sughun" — twenty miles. Near the
former place we quitted the plateau and entered the
narrow valley of the Sughun river which drains it to
the eastward, and were accommodated for the night in
some tents borrowed from the Kirghiz camp hard by.
It numbered sixteen tents, and had some large herds of
horses at graze on the plain close by. The river, which
was more or less frozen, flows on a loose shingly bottom
between low shelving banks of sand and clay, encrusted
with salines, and covered with patches of reed and
tamarisk thickets. Here and there on its course are thin
forests of poplar and willow, myricaria and elceagnus,
wild rose and ephoedra, and some traces of Kirghiz culti-
vation.

At Ayagh Sughun we found a camp of twelve tents.
Here Capt. Trotter and Dr Stoliczka with a small escort
of Andijanis left us for an excursion to the Balauti range
of hills which separate this from the Acsay valley of Ush
Turfan, whilst the Envoy and the rest of our. party pro-

z

354 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

ceeded down the course of the river through a winding
valley covered with snow. We turned off from the river
some way below a small outpost fort, and a little be-
yond it, emerging from the hills, went down a sirt or
"slope" which extends along their base and sinks
gradually to the level country, and then crossed a wide
waste of salines and sands on to the cultivation of Kol
Taylac on the Kashghar plain. After a halt there of two
days we returned to Kashghar by way of Artosh, where
we met our polite host again, and thanked him for his
kind hospitality* His son Musa, who conducted us on
our tour, completed the role of his attentions by accom-
panying us as far as Bibi Miryam, where, on taking his
leave, the Envoy acknowledged his good service by
robing him in a very handsome silk Jchilat.

He was an intelligent and spirited young man of
about twenty-two years of age, and proved an agreeable
companion by his frank cordiality and varied informa-
tion. He gave me an account of the atrocities com-
mitted by the Chinese in suppressing the Khoja revolt
under Wali Khan, and described how they executed his
own grandfather and uncles. They were ripped open
and their hearts cut out whilst alive, and thrown to the
dogs in the street. Their heads were then cut off, and
placed in cages along with dozens of others that lined
the roads in front of the city gates as a warning to evil-
doers. On my expressing horror at such barbarities,
he said, " Not at all. It was their turn and they did
as we had done to them. We are much alike in war."

•" And in what do you differ ? " I asked.

" We are Musalmans and they are idolaters. That's
all"

"Is there no other difference ? " I inquired. " Are you
not much superior to the Chinese ? "

ISLAM AND THE CHINESE RULE. 355

" In religion we are. In nothing else."

"But you speak a different language, and are of a
different race," I interposed.

" That's true, but we are all Tatars, whether called
Turk, Mughal, Manjhu, or Khitay, and our languages are
as different as the number of our nations. In the time
of the Khitay some seven languages were spoken in this
country."

" Amongst their troops and officials, you mean, I pre-
sume," I said.

" Yes, and traders who came from all parts of
Mungholia. Even now, everything you see in this
country is Chinese. Our dress is Khitay, our food,
domestic utensils, and industries are Khitay. Our
manners are Khitay. And so was our trade."

" Of course you speak of the time when the Khitay
were your rulers. Everything is not now as it was
then."

" Yes. Everything is much the same as then except
the Shariat. But things are changing every day ; and
now we never see any signs of the Khitay trade, nor of
the wealth they brought here."

" You talk as if you were a Khitay yourself."

" No. I hate them. But they were not bad rulers.
We had everything then. There is nothing now."

And he was not the only man I met in the country
who held the same opinions. In fact many spoke to me,
and others in our camp in comparatively very favourable
terms of the rule they had lost.

CHAPTER XL

OUR excursion to the foot of the Tianshan, or Alatagh
as it is locally called, despite the severity of the cold, and
the emptiness of the country, was a very interesting
tour, and afforded us an insight into the character of the
region immediately beyond the settled and cultivated
suburbs of the city. Here as elsewhere in the tracts we
had traversed it was but a step that took us from a
scene of population, plenty and industry, to one of lone-
liness, poverty and barbarity.

We saw the country in the depth of winter, and met
its few wandering camps which in the shelter of its
valleys find that pasture and protection which the higher
elevations at this season deny them, but nowhere did we
find the indications of a more thickly peopled condition
than that it actually presented to us. In spring the fresh
pastures of its wide plateaux and rolling downs are
roamed by the camps we found sheltered, or " wintered,"
as the term here is, in the nooks and hollows of the low
hills of bare rock and gravel which shut them off from
the plain country, and in summer their parched wastes
are deserted for the higher parts of the boundary range,
on the other side of which are the camps of the same
people, subjects of Russia.

On the 7th March, according to arrangements pre-
viously made, the envoy, attended by his officers in
undress uniform, paid a visit to Beg Culi Beg, or as
he is usually called Beg Bacha. He is the eldest son,

VISIT TO THE HEIR APPARENT. 357

and heir apparent of the Amir, and now rejoices in the
title of Shahzada. He arrived here a month ago from
Acsu, when his next brother, Hacc Culi Beg, set out from
this to take his place on the frontier. We alighted at
the gate of the court of his residence inside the fort,
and were received in the verandah of his reception room
by our friend Haji Tora, who was present to manage the
ceremony.

He conducted our chief into the room, and introduced
him to the prince who rose from his seat in the opposite
corner and shook hands. We were introduced in turn,
and shaking hands bowed politely to his perfunctorily
interrogative Salamat, and fell back to seats on the
carpet along the wall in the corner of which he sat, at
one side of the window which there opened into the
verandah, whilst Haji Tora seated himself opposite to
him on its other side. The usual conventionalities of
salutation were then exchanged between the envoy and
the prince, and with the interchance of compliments a
double barrelled gun was presented, whilst a file of men
went past the window with other presents, all of which
were accepted with becoming indifference. And then
followed a pause of silence, truly Oriental in its dura-
tion and gravity, and the tedium of which was at length
cut short by the welcome appearance of the dastur-
Jchivan — an institution, which as the occasion illustrated,
possesses merits other than those of a merely alimentary
nature.

The prince was extremely reserved, and assumed an
air of self-conscious dignity, which he did not relax
during the interview. He spoke little, and that mostly
in monosyllables, curt and to the purpose ; but our ac-
knowledgements of the hospitality and kindness of the
Amir in so handsomely providing for our comfort

358 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

elicited no response. Haji Tora came to the rescue,
and made a conversation into which he drew our re-
ticent host by very deferentially addressing his remarks
to him.

On the removal of the dasturkhwan we all rose, and
the prince, folding his hands in the opposite sleeves of
his juba, acknowledged our bows with a nod for the
envoy, and a stare out of the window for the rest of us.
He is a powerfully built young man of 26 years of age,
and is of darker complexion than most of the people
here. His mother is a Capchac of Juelik in the Ac
Masjid territory, and he bears some of the uncouth
characters of that tribe in his features, which are thick-
set and heavy. The lips are thick and the mouth pro-
jects forward, but the nose is slightly arched and well
formed. His general expression is that of pride and
severity. Even in his conversation with Haji Tora, who
spoke in tones of submissive deference, he did not relax
the stern set of his looks.

He is very popular amongst the Andijani troops, and
enj oys a reputation for bravery, and military skill. Many
stories are current of his valiant deeds against the enemy
on the Orumchi and Manas frontier, and if there be any
truth in them, the sentiment of mercy must be foreign
to his nature, for from all accounts his troops have
reduced that formerly populous and thriving country
to a waste of desolation and ruin.

He maintains as strict a discipline in his Court as
does the Amir, and is dreaded for the severity of his
punishments ; but he is popular amongst the troops on
account of his liberality in the distribution of plunder,
and his protection of Islam. He is said, however, to be
illiterate, and proud, and wanting in judgment; but
considering his sudden rise from a position of obscurity

TOLERANT CHARACTER OF 2 HE NATIVES. 359

to that of heir apparent to the rule of this newly con-
quered territory, in the subjugation of the eastern dis-
tricts of which he has taken so active a part, this is not
to be wondered at, and doubtless the pride of royalty,
so jealously guarded in its infancy, will assume a more
conciliating form in its maturity. At all events, for the
sake of his subjects, let us hope so.

In all our dealings with the Court, and officials of this
state we met with uniform civility, but on terms of an
equality, the largest share of which was naturally reser-
ved for themselves. And consequently when we visited
their magnates, the ceremony was taken as a proper mark
of respect, without necessitating any return of the com-
pliment. This was in keeping with the dignity assumed
by the government, for in other respects our treatment
was most liberal, and wherever we went it was plain to
perceive that the most minute orders had preceded us
for the reception of the king's guests, and the conduct
of the government officials even in the smallest matters.

As to the people of the country, from what we were
enabled to see of them, they appear to be singularly free
from prejudice against foreigners, and altogether indif-
ferent, on the score of his nationality or religion, of his
presence amongst them, so long as he pays his way, and
does not wantonly offend against the customs of the
country. On one occasion, shortly after our arrival in
Yarkand, I visited the city with Capt. Chapman, and
as we entered the grain-market our usual cicerone
loitered behind in some thoroughfare on the way.
We went about from shop to shop, and examined the
weights and measures, and made our inquiries at the
different stalls without even attracting curious idlers
about us, though a vagabond darvesh on the other side
of the square did his best to direct attention to us by

360 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

denouncing us at the top of his voice as infidels, and
shaking his club at us menacingly told us to depart.
His declamation fell upon indifferent ears, however, for
beyond staring at him and laughing, the crowd gave no
response to his sentiments, and, we taking no heed to
hurry our movements, the rascal went away capering,
and gesticulating, and shouting after the wanton fashion
of his order. If he only foreknew how many tilas
his brethren were to net in the peregrinations of these
same infidels he would have concealed his feelings, and
deprived me of the opportunity of chronicling a solitary
illustration in this country of what in other countries
not so far off his fraternity are no way chary in dispens-
ing— curse and insult to the Farangi — the Frank, the
European.

This was the only instance in which, during our stay
in the country, I saw the fanaticism of Islam escape from
the check set upon it, and I can judge how much we are
indebted to the liberal-minded counsels of our friend Haji
Tora for the freedom with which, under the Amir's favour,
we visited its holy places ; a freedom we are strangers
to in our own dominions in India, and one I doubt
not withheld from less favoured guests at Kashghar.
I hope my opinion will prove wrong, and that the
liberality extended to us is but an earnest of the en-
lightened policy the Amir is about to adopt towards all
foreign visitors, irrespective of their creed or nationality.

The business of the envoy with the Amir having been
brought to a conclusion, and the projected tour through
his territory being found impracticable, it was decided
that we should proceed to Yangi Hissar, and there await
the intelligence expected from Kabul, as to whether the
route to India by that way was available to us, whilst a
party from our camp proceeded to explore the route

DEPARTURE FROM KASHGHAR. 361

through Sarigh Cul and Wakhan, up to the frontier of
the Kashghar Amir's territory.

These preliminaries settled Haji Tora and Ihrar Khan
Tor a, on the 9th March, came over from the palace with
the parting presents from the Amir, which included a
horse for each of us, and talked over the arrangements
for the journey. These extended over two or three
days, and finally, the 16th was fixed for our farewell
visit to the Amir.

Meanwhile messengers were sent off with orders to
Husen Shah, Tocsabay, the governor of Sarigh Cul, to
smoothe the path for our party coming that way with the
requisite supplies and carriage ; and carts and horses were
collected for the carriage of our heavy camp from this.

The weather at the time was very variable, though the
intense frosts of the winter had ceased. The snow and
heavy clouds of the 8th and 9th had disappeared, and
on the 10th the sun shone out brightly in a beautifully
clear blue sky, and for the first time since our arrival
gave us a really good view of the mountains to the north
and west — a magnificent barrier of snow culminating at
their point of junction in the towering mass of the Tirak
Dawan, " The poplar tree pass."

Next day all was again hidden from view by a dense
nimbus, and snow which fell all night and up to noon
of the 12th, when it covered the ground to a depth of
between eight and ten inches. And the sky continued
gloomy till our departure.

According to previous arrangement at 3 P.M. on the
16th March, the envoy, attended by all his staff in full
dress uniform, visited the Amir to take leave and thank
him for the hospitable reception accorded to the embassy.
Haji Tora and Ihrar Khan Tora came over from the
palace to escort our party. The same ceremony was

362 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

observed as on previous occasions, except that Haji Tora
was present, and took a seat on the floor opposite to us,
and some way on the left of the Amir. The envoy,
through one of his staff, thanked the Amir for his un-
bounded hospitality and many favours, and assured him
of our gratitude for the very kind reception we had met
on all sides from the day we entered his territories. He
acknowledged the attentions of his officials on the march,
and on the excursions to Chacmac, Maralbashi, and
Artosh, and expressed a hope that no act of any member
of his party had caused offence to the humblest of his
subjects. In allusion to the business of the embassy he
hoped that the treaty of commerce would prove mutually
advantageous to both countries, and concluded with a
prayer for the long life and prosperity of His Highness.
The Amir was highly pleased, and relaxing the usual
gravity of his features, placed his hand upon his heart,
and with much animation repeatedly exclaimed, " God
be praised! " " Please God it will." " The country is
your own." ic You are welcome here at all times." " I
am highly honoured by your visit," &c., &c. The das-
turJchwan was now brought in, and over it His Highness
spoke with more animation and suavity than on any
previous occasion, and on our rising to depart, said, " I
will stand up," and suiting the action to the word, shook
hands with each in turn, and wished us a safe journey
back to India. Haji Tora accompanied us back to the
Eesidency, and after congratulating the envoy on the
success of the meeting, returned to the palace, whilst
Colonel Gordon and Captain Biddulph rode off to the
city to bid adieu to the Dadkhwah on the part of the
envoy. Next morning we marched away from Kash-
ghar, and staying the night at Yapchang, on the 18th
March alighted at the garden-house we formerly rested

DEPARTURE OF THE WAKHAN PARTY. 363

in at Yangi Hissar. The country still wore its wintry
aspect, and vegetation had not commenced to sprout,
but here and there we saw the plough at work as the
herald of the approach of spring. The atmosphere was
intensely hazy, and obscured the prospect beyond a ra-
dius of a couple of miles more or less.

As we rode out of the gate of the Eesidency a salute
of nineteen guns was fired on the parade in front of the
fort, and we found a large crowd of soldiery, and camp
people collected to see us start. Haji Tora and Ihrar
Khan Tora escorted us three miles on our way, and then
bidding us farewell, returned to report progress to the
Amir. We went on our way with a Yuzbashi and On-
bashi (centurion and decurion) and half a dozen soldiers
who did the honours of the dasturkhwan as usual.

At Sogholoc we were met by our old friend Khal
Muhammad, and his guard of men in yellow buff with
the dasturkhwan, and they accompanied us on our way.
On arrival at Yangi Hissar we were received by Mulla
Najmuddin, a native of Oratappa, and commandant of
the troops here. He had about 400 men seated in a
long line along the road in front of the fort. They all
wore white turbans, and had their prong-rest guns set
on the ground in line before them, and as we rode past
looked respectfully down to the ground.

As far as one could judge from the faces of the forms
wrapped up, as it seemed, in so many bundles of clothes,
they are a fine body of men; and seen thus together
present a notably different physiognomy to that of the
people of the country. They are in fact Uzbak and not
Turk, and show a stronger development of the Tatar
type than the peasantry of the country do.

Najmuddin informed us that he had received orders
to attend to our wants here, and, before taking his

364 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR,

leave, accompanied us to our quarters where he saw us
comfortably settled in the rooms prepared for us on the
previous occasion of our halt here. The next two days
were occupied in the providing of carriage, &c. for the
party proceeding under command of Colonel Gordon to
Wakhan. He set out on the 21st with Captain Biddulph,
Captain Trotter, and Dr Stoliczka, and about twenty-
five or thirty natives of India attached to the embassy,
including Easaidar Afzal Khan of the llth B.C., and
Munshi Abdussubhan of the Survey. We accompanied
our fortunate comrades some miles out on their envi-
able journey (the one above all others I had hoped to
make when we set out on this march), and bidding them
God speed returned to our quarters. We did not meet
again till after our return to India. .

Captain Chapman at the same time turning off at a
branch in the road took his way to Yarkand to arrange
for the despatch of our heavy baggage thence to India,
and he returned to Yangi Hissar on the 28th March.
Meanwhile the envoy and I explored the suburbs of our
dwelling, and after the return of our comrade, leaving
him to rest after his labours, set out for an excursion
to the Cum Shahidan to visit the shrine of Ordam
Padshah.

We left our quarters after an early breakfast on the
1st April, and going through the town followed an
E.S.E. route through the suburbs beyond it. They
extend for ten miles in a continuous succession of fields
and farmsteads, which are surrounded by their orchards
and vineyards, and connected by rows of polled willow,
and poplar, and mulberry, and oeleagnus, and other trees
along the water- courses. We crossed several of these
irrigation canals en route, the largest of them by bridge
at seventy-five minutes out. It is a considerable channel

SUDDEN CHANGE OF SEASON. 365

from the Shahnaz river which irrigates all the southern
portion of this settlement. With the exception of a few
weeping willows on which the buds were beginning to
form, we saw no signs of reviving vegetation.

In two hours we reached the last house of the village
of Syghan on the verge of the desert, and alighted in a
plantation of plum and mulberry trees for the dastur-
khwan there spread for us.

In this distance of ten miles (eight from the town) we
passed through the villages or parishes, here called kand,
of Mangshin, Khoja Aric, and Sayghan. They are col-
lections of scattered farmsteads, seldom more than thirty
appearing within the range of vision at one time from
any part of the plain, and are planted along the course
of a canal which is. drawn off from the Shahnaz river
near Tawiz or Tabriz, a village ten miles or so to the
south-west of the town of Yangi Hissar.

From Sayghan our route continued E.S.E. over an
arid desert waste of coarse gravel and sand, skirting low
ridges of clay and gravel on our right, and showing a
thin strip of cultivation away to the left which extended
for a couple of miles on to the desert like a long feeler
projected out from the main body of the settlement.

In two hours from Sayghan we came to a roadside
well, in which was a little brackish water at six fathoms
down, and then turning S.E. rose up to the crest of the
ridges along the base of which our path lay. The view
of the country from this slight elevation was weird
and desolate in the extreme. On the other side, at a
mile we passed a roadside well, and at two miles more
another — like the first, both were mere shafts sunk in
the sand to a reservoir of salt water below. A little
way further on the ground becomes hillocky, and sup-
ports a thin growth of reeds in the hollows ; and be-

366 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

yond this again it slopes away to a wide undulating
waste of sand and gravel.

At an hour and fifteen minutes from the ridge we
came to some miserable little huts on the side of the
road, and further on, passing a few others, came to a
collection of three or four houses where the friars of this
little monastic colony met us on the road with, according
to Tatar custom, an offering of bread and salt. Beyond
these a little way, and at two hours, or eight miles from
the ridge, we alighted at the monastery of Hazrat Begam
(whose grave is outside its walls to the S.E.), where we
were met at the door by the Shekh, an old man of
eighty years, named Shah Macsud, who gave us a hospit-
able welcome to his poor abode.

The monastery is a wretched little place cast away in
a blank waste of arid desert, and is apparently fast fall-
ing to decay. It has a chapel and refectory, with half
a dozen small chambers for the monks, and a large well
of insipid water in one of the chambers of the inner
court, the area of which is shaded by the spreading
branches of three very aged poplar trees. In the outer
court are some stables, and outside it, on the plain to
the south, are eight or ten huts crowded together. They
are miserable hovels, and in front of their doors are
heaps of old bones, ashes, and filth, about which grovel
some semi-nude, demented beggars, in company with a
few mangy dogs, and emaciated donkeys all covered with
sores, the very personification of poverty, misery, and
dirt. There is no trace of cultivation in this place, and
all supplies for the community of fifty or sixty friars,
and their families here, come from Yangi Hissar and
Kizili where are situated their glebe lands.

The lady whose sainted memory this shrine per-
petuates was the cousin of Khoja Ahmad Yasawi (the

A MONASTERY IN THE DESERT. 367

patron saint of Turkistan, and whose tomb there is called
Hazrat Sultan), and the wife of Hasan Baghra Khan
who was killed near Yangi Hissar in the wars with the
Chinese of Khutan in the middle of the eleventh cen-
tury. On the defeat of the king's army she fled into
the desert, and was here overtaken, and slain by the
enemy. Her grave is marked by a low mound of sand
and clay on the top of which are stuck a number of poles
with yak tails, and streamers of rags. On the plain
half a mile to the south are the remains of an ancient
fort, now barely traceable in the sand, which is said
to have been occupied as an outpost by the Khutan
prince, Nuktarashid, during the war against Kashghar
and the princes of the Baghra Khan family. Its area
is covered with bits of coarse gritty pottery, and frag-
ments of green glass ; and coins are sometimes found
after strong winds have blown away the sand.

Next day we went twelve miles in a northerly course
to Ordam Padshah. At first the road slopes down to a
wide hollow which drains to the south-eastwards, and
then rises up to the ridge which we crossed yesterday
a few miles higher up to the N.W. On the way to this
we passed a number of shallow wells and superficial
cisterns on the sides of the road. In all the water was
so salt that most of our Indian cattle refused to drink it.

From the top of the ridge of clay and gravel, which
here forms a high and broad bank, we got a good view
of the desert away to the east, for the ridge soon breaks
up and subsides in that direction to the level of the
plain. The plain in that direction presents a vast
undulating surface drained by shallow and very wide
water-runs in which is a thin growth of reeds and rough
bushes, but no sign of running water.

But to the north it presents a perfect sea of loose sand

368 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

advancing in regular wave lines from N.W. to S.E.
The sand-dunes are mostly from ten to twenty feet high,
but some are seen like little hills, full a hundred feet
high and in some spots higher. They cover the plain, of
which the hard clay is seen between their rows, with
numberless chains of two or three or more together in
a line, and follow in successive rows one behind the other
just like the marks left by wave-ripples on a sandy
beach, only on a large scale.

Towards the south-east these sand-dunes all present a
steep bank in the shape of a crescent the horns of which
slope forwards and downwards to points on the ground.
The horns start from the high central part of the body
of the crescent, which, in the opposite direction, tails off
in a long slant down to the plain. These dunes cover
the whole country towards the north and north-west as
far as the eye can reach, but towards the east they cease
at four or five miles to the right of our road, and beyond
that distance is seen the undulating smooth surface of
the desert.

From the ridge up to the shrine itself, and next day
for some miles further, our path wound amongst and
over these sand dunes. At about four miles from the
ridge we passed a deserted post-stage half submerged
under the advancing sands. One of the priests of Mazar
Hazrat Begam, who was with us as guide, told us it was
called Langar Bulghar Akhund, and said that it was built
eighty years ago on an, at that time, open space in the
sands, but had been abandoned since thirty years owing
to the encroaching sands having swallowed up its court,
and risen over its roof.

I got down to examine the place, and found the wood-
work, and fire-places, and shelves in two rooms, and also
a part of the roof in a perfectly fresh, and well preserved

THE SANDS OF THE DESERT. 369

state as if but just vacated. About half the building was
buried under a dune the sand of which stood above the
rest of it to a height of six or eight feet ; and on each
side in rear were much larger dunes whose regular cres-
centic form was perfect, and uninjured by any obstruc-
tion. At one side of the two rooms still uncovered,
and which faced to the S.E., was another room filled to
the door with sand which seemed to have crushed in the
roof.

At Ordam Pasha, where we halted a day, we found
some tenements actually occupied whilst in course of
submergence ; showing that the process is usually a very
gradual one, until the symmetry of the dune is so broken
by the obstructing object that its loose materials subside
by a sudden dissolution of its component particles, and
thus overwhelm the obstruction. In this particular
instance a chain of three crescentic dunes side by side
had advanced in a line across the plain till one of the
outer crescents had struck the walls of the court of the
tenement, and growing up against it had in time over-
topped, and then overflowed and filled its area by its
downfall ; whilst the other two crescents at its side con-
tinuing in an unobstructed course, maintained their
proper form uninjured. The same cause which propelled
them gradually forward also operated to drive the re-
mainder of the broken dune forward, and it would in
course of time not only bury the whole tenement, but
would ultimately pass on beyond it, and resume its
original form on the open space further on, in line with
the other two crescents of the chain, thus leaving the
tenement more or less uncovered, till it was again sub-
merged by the next following row of similar sand-dunes.

These sand-dunes are formed by the action of the
periodical north and north-west winds which here blow

2A

370 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

over the plain persistently during the spring months.
And the reason of their progress is this. That once
formed the wind drives forward the loose particles on its
surface, so that those on the sides, where there is least
resistance, project forwards in the form of long horns,
whilst those in the centre ride over each other till they
produce the high curved bank between them ; and on
being propelled still further they topple over the bank
out of the influence of the wind, but ^subject still to
that of their gravity, which carries them down the steep
slope till they reach the ground. And this action con-
tinued for a length of time is the cause of the gradual
and symmetrical advance of the dunes. The rate of their
progress it is impossible to determine, as it depends
entirely on the varying force of the propelling power,
the slope of the land and the obstructions on its surface.
But the phenomenon as we saw it actually in course of
operation explains the manner in which the cities of
Lob, and Katak, and others of this territory have be-
come overwhelmed in a flood of sand. And it con-
firms the veracity of the statements made by the
shepherds who roam the deserts, to the effect that in
these old ruined sites the houses now and then appear
for awhile from under the sand, and again for awhile
disappear under it.

The "Tarikhi Kashidi" gives a very interesting ac-
count of the destruction of Katak from this cause, just at
the time that Toghluc Tymur ascended the throne at
Acsu about the middle of the fourteenth century, which,
in the light thrown upon it by the examination of the
sand-dunes at Cum Shahidan, is perfectly intelligible.

From the account given in the work quoted it would
appear that the fate of the city had long been foreseen,
and that portions of it must have passed under the sands

CITIES BURIED UNDER SAND. 371

before the catastrophe which finally led to its abandonment
drove the hero of our author's story out of it. Mirza
Hydar states that for several months the priest of the
city, Shekh Jamaluddin (a descendant of the celebrated
divine, Maulana Shujauddin Mahmud, who was spared
from the general butchery of the priests when Changiz
took Bukhara, and sent with his family to Caracoram,
whence, on its subsequent destruction, his sons moved
to Katak), repeatedly warned his audience in the Friday
sermons of the impending calamity ; and that finally,
seeing the danger imminent, he informed his congrega-
tion of a divine order to himself to quit the city and flee
from the coming wrath of God. He then formally bid
them " farewell" from the pulpit and forthwith took
his departure from the doomed abode.

He left the city, it would seem, in a violent sand-
storm, and hurried away "with his family, and such
effects as he could carry with them. After he had gone
some way one of his companions — the muazzin or " crier
to prayer " of his mosque — returned to fetch something
left behind, and took the opportunity to mount the
minaret, and for the last time chaunt the " bed-time "
call to prayer from its tower. In descending he found
the sand had accumulated so high up the doorway
that it was impossible to open it. He consequently
had to re-ascend the tower and throw himself from it
on to the sand, and thus effect his escape. He rejoined
the Shekh at midnight, and his report was so alarming
that the fugitives immediately rose and renewed their
flight, saying, " Distance is safety from the wrath of
God."

That portion of the city was buried the same night,
but it does not appear that the entire city was over-
whelmed at once, for there is no mention made of a

372 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

general stampede or sauve qui peat flight. On the con-
trary, it would seem that the citizens abandoned their
homes in small parties, carrying their effects with them,
though doubtless in some instances the carelessness en-
gendered by a foreseen, and slowly advancing calamity
overtook some in their neglect, and buried them in their
false security.

Of the probability of this we had a remarkable illustra-
tion in the tenement mentioned above as still occupied at
Ordam Padshah, though the court up to its verandah was
already full of sand from the dune which had broken
over its walls. Had the court, in this case been on the
opposite side, and the house been the first to pass under
the advancing sand, as we saw at the Langar Bulghar
Akhund, it is easy to perceive how on toppling over the
front walls (if it did not suddenly, by its weight, crush
in the roof) it would shut up the inmates in a living
tomb.

That this actually did occur at Katak in many in-
stances is evidenced by the skeletons and desiccated
bodies which are still occasionally seen in unearthed
houses, with their apparel and furniture intact and un-
injured, as is told with such apparent truth by the shep-
herds who roam that spot at the present day.

Shekh Jamaluddin, on quitting the doomed city, made
for Acsu, and does not appear to have travelled with any
large party, for when near the end of his journey he met
the hunting circle, or jirga, of the new king, Toghluc
Tymur, and unaware of the Mughol regulations against
transgressing the cordon, was seized and carried to the
presence of the king for the punishment of death which,
according to the strict rules of the sport, he had merited,
Toghluc was at the time feeding his dogs on the flesh of
a wild boar they had killed, and on seeing the Tajik (a

SHRINE OF ORDAM PADSHAH. 373

term applied here to all people of Arab and Aryan
descent in distinction to those of Turk and Mughol
descent), and hearing his plea of ignorance in excuse of
his fault, contemptuously asked him, " Say Tajik ! art
thou the better or these dogs ? " The priest replied
boldly, " Since I have the Faith I am the better. Were
I without it, the dog would be the better."

The words made an impression upon the young
Budhist, and led to his conversion at the hands of this
priest. And a couple of years later, when he was firmly
established as Khan of the Mughol, Toghluc Tymur,
made a public confession of the faith before the Mulla
Arshaduddin, son and successor of the Shekh who had
died in the interim. The new convert was followed in
his example by most of his nobles, and speedily revived
Islam throughout his territories. But to keep to our
subject.

The storm which drove the Shekh from Katak is de-
scribed as of exceeding violence, and is stated to have
filled the air with sand which fell as does rain from the
sky. This description is illustrated by what we saw at
the Cum Sbahidan in the Langar before mentioned, and,
if the dunes about Ordam Padshah were as high as some
others further off, it is easy to understand how a violent
wind or hurricane would carry the sand off them in vast
quantity, and deposit it on buildings below to the lee-
ward like rain falling from the sky, for once off the dune
its own gravity carries it out of the force of the wind,
which is intercepted below a certain level by the dune
itself.

The shrine of Ordam Padshah is itself buried in sand,
and poles tufted with yak tails mark the spot of the
grave. But the monastery, and some almshouses around
are built on small, clear spaces on the plain, which

374 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

appear here and there amongst the heaps of sand, and
form as it were lanes running in the direction of the
march of the sand-dunes. Some of the larger dunes, at
a distance of three or four hundred yards off, are directed
obliquely upon the monastery, but as they seem to
advance here at a very slow rate — twelve years having
passed since the dune broke into the court of the tene-
ment mentioned without having yet completely filled
its area, which is only ten or twelve paces wide — the
confident faith of the venerable Shekh who presides
over it may prove justified. " The blessed shrine has
survived the vicissitudes of eight centuries/' he said, in
reply to our forebodings of the danger threatening its
existence ; " and please God it will survive to the end
of the world."

The martyr whose memory is perpetuated by this
shrine over his body, and by that of Hazrat Padshah at
Daulatbagh near Kashghar over his head, was Sayyid
'Ali Arslan Khan, the supernatural son of the Bibi
Miryam whose history has been before related. He took
an active part in the wars for the propagation of Islam
which were waged during the first half of the eleventh
century between the brother kings Hasan and Husen
Baghra Khan of Kashghar and the Chinese princes
Boktarashid and Choktarashid of Khutan. The grand
battlefield of their prolonged and bloody conflicts was
the country immediately around and to the north of
the range of sand hills called Cayragh, through which
flows the Shahnaz river — a site now marked amongst the
ruins of ancient towns and cemeteries by the victors'
impress in the name of Yangi Hissar or " New Fort."

The whole ]ocality abounds in interesting memorials
of this sanguinary twenty-five years' war, and its records
are scattered about in the keeping of the custodians of

HISTORY OF >AL2 ARSLAN KHAN. 375

the several shrines by which are perpetuated the, to Mus-
lims, holy memory of the noble martyrs for their faith.
To notice half of them as they deserve from a historical
point of view would require a volume to itself. Here
I must only allude to the manner of the death of the
martyr at whose shrine we have found so much to in-
terest the mind. The account, as given in the Tazkira
Baghra Khan, is much to the following effect.

The indomitable bravery and valiant deeds of arms of
'All Arslan against his infidel foes had rendered his name
terrible to the Khutan troops, and he more than once in
single combat put to flight their renowned champion, a
prince named Choktarashid. On these occasions 'Ali
Arslan is described as performing his prayers with great
solemnity at the head of his troops, and then proceeding
to the field of battle, his heralds in front proclaiming
his name and lineage, his dignities and titles, to meet
the champion from the other side.

Both were always accompanied by a body of their
own troops, and the combat usually became general at
once before the adversaries could engage each other
singly. The Muhammadan account naturally always
claims the best of the encounters, but their heavy losses,
and repeated failure to drive the enemy from his posi-
tion on the Cayragh heights is proof that their arms
made no very rapid progress. However, they inflicted
such losses upon the enemy that their general, called
Jagalu Khalkhalu, offered a handsome reward to any
one who would devise a means of overcoming their
renowned leader 'Ali Arslan.

There was an aged and poor jdtlic, or " Christian
priest," who used to seek a living by passing from one
camp to the other in search of odd jobs, and probably
he was employed as a spy by both, who hearing of this

I

376 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

offer volunteered to impart to the Khutan general a
secret by which he might overcome his Muslim anta-
gonist. He was taken before the Budhist leader, and
told him that if he timed his attack so as to fall upon
the hostile army whilst they were performing the prayers
of a particular festival close at hand, he would find 'Ali
Arslan and his men unprepared, as they removed their
arms and armour when engaged in their devotions.

Jagalu Khalkhalu took the hint, arid dismissing his
informer with a handful of gold, laid his plans accord-
ingly. And on the day indicated fell upon the pious
devotees with such secrecy and impetuosity that he
immediately put their army to the rout, and surround-
ing 'Ali Arslan and 300 of his body-guard put them all
to the sword. The victorious general then, carrying
the head of his vanquished foe with him, pursued the
fugitives into the shelter of the walls of Kashghar,
and laid siege to the place, exhibiting the head of
their prince to tempt them out to open fight. The date
of this event is given as the 10th Muharram, 489 H.
(1095 A.D.)

They were driven off by a relieving army from Andijan
under Hasan and Husen Baghra Khan, and pursued with
great loss to Kokyar, whence they effected a safe retreat
to Chinshahr or Khutan. Hasan Baghra Khan then re-
turned by way of Yarkand, which at once surrendered,
and securing possession of the city by a garrison left in
it, marched with a large army to perform the funeral
rites of ;Ali Arslan and his fellow-warriors on the spot
of their martyrdom. During the ceremony (so says the
"Tazkira Baghra Khan") a burdn, or hurricane blacken-
ing the sky with dust, overwhelmed the country in
-darkness, and buried the bodies in the sand. Hence the
name of the spot Cum Shahiddn or " Martyr's Sands."

HIS DEA TH AND B URIAL. 3 7 7

He built a khdncdh or " Monastery" here, and ap-
pointed a Shekk or "Superior" and forty attendants
for the service of the tomb, which he pronounced a sacred
shrine and place of pilgrimage. He gave some land, and
the tithes of certain villages for the support of the esta-
blishment, and promised all sorts of benefits to accrue to
those who visited it for prayer and supplication, if they
conciliated the superior with gifts, and the martyr's soul
with candles, and food for the poor, and recitals of the
Curan.

No allusion is made in the Tazkira to the existence
here of any fort or town, though the people of the place
assured us there was formerly a town here, which is
now buried under the sand ; but its exact site is now
quite unknown.

The name Ordam Padshah means " My camp, or Court
King," just as Khojam Padshah means " My Khoja or
Priest King," and does not necessarily imply the exist-
ence here of any court or royal edifice, though it is pro-
bable the Kashghar army may have had an outpost fort
here similar to that held at Mazar Hazrat Begam by the
Khutan army.

The monastery, as we found it, is a large court in which
are contained a chapel, refectory, and kitchen, with about
a dozen dormitories capable of accommodating, after
the fashion of the country, about a hundred inmates.
The whole has been recently restored by the Amir, and
some new houses have been built in the hollows between
the sand-dunes around it. The shrine is a very popular
one, and three or four fairs are held here for its benefit
every year. The principal one is held in Ashur 'Ay, the
third month, and attracts between fifteen and twenty
thousand people, it is said, during the five days it lasts.
It has a permanent population of about fifty families

378 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

who are as well to do and comfortable as those of Hazrat
Begam are poor and miserable. They are quite isolated
in the sand, and derive all their supplies from Yangi
Hissar, which is twenty miles to the west by a direct
path across the sands.

We halted a day here and were feasted on horse flesh,
roast and boiled. If the European animal is only half
as good in the flavour of his flesh, the diet is by no
means to be despised. On resuming our journey we
went due north for six miles, and then passed on to a
wide saline-encrusted desert which was dotted here and
there with little desiccated pools and patches of reeds.

At a mile from the shrine we passed three huts
close together with a sand-dune in process of passing
over them. The court-yard of one was full, and of the
others nearly so. They were all occupied as usual by
their owners, poor beggars dependent on the bounty of
the monastery.

A couple of miles further on the dunes diminish in
size and regularity of form, and finally end as small flat
tumuli scattered about on the surface, and not much
raised above its level. They present, however, an indis-
tinctly striated appearance from N.W. to S.E.

Beyond the sands our path turned N.W. and led past
some shallow pools to a roadside hospice around which
were clustered eight or ten hovels occupied by beggars.
Then past a long strip of shallow water, on which we
found numbers of, wild duck — apparently returned from
their winter migration, for they quit the country when
the frosts set in — across a bit of dry and blistered soil,
in which our horses off the narrow track sunk to their
knees, and, at about nine miles from the shrine, we
came to a small hamlet called Dasht Bulac, or " Desert
Spring." It is an hospice on the way to the shrine, and

SUDDEN CHANGE OF SEASONS. 379

has eight or ten huts clustered round it under the shade
of some trees.

At this place our route turned due west towards along
strip of settlement which we reached in one hour. It
extends out from Yangi Hissar in a N.E. direction like
a long arm stretched out to the desert. We went on five
miles, or an hour and ten minutes, through its fields, and
alighted at the village of Arab, where we were accom-
modated in the house of a farmer blacksmith who had
vacated his home for us. It was a comfortable and clean
house, though of unpretending character, and was shaded
by some splendid poplars, in the branches of which were
set some empty gourds for the starlings to build their
nests in. The fruit and other trees were just beginning
to bud, and the fields were fresh ploughed for the spring
crop. Here and there we saw fields of winter corn,
and found the peasants at work laying on a top dressing
of sand and manure to kill the salines that whiten the
surface with their efflorescence.

Next day we rode twenty miles "W.S.W. across a
mostly waste tract of sodden saline land, and returned to
our quarters at Yangi Hissar.

On the 17th April, after three weeks of more or less
hazy weather, and persistent N. and N.W. winds which
sometimes blew with sufficient force to obscure the air
with a thick fog of impalpable dust, the sun shone out
in a cloudless sky, and gave us a splendid view of the
snowy hills to the west. The range runs N.W. to S.E.
and the nearest spurs are only twenty miles off.

It presents three prominent masses which are separated
by depressions that sink below the snow level. The
southern-most is called King Cul Tagh and is above the
road to Sarigh Cul. The second is called Tawiz Tagh,
and the third, to the north, Chish Tagh ; and between

380 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

the two latter is the road from Kashghar to Sarigh Cul
by Tashmalik and Opal, and from it a road branches off
westward over the Alai to Caratakin.

The hills are the home of the Kirghiz of the Nayman,
Caraterit, and Chalterit tribes, with a few refugee Sayak
and Capchac from the Caratagh and Tirak Dawan. The
Caratagh hills connect Chishtagh with the Tirak Dawan,
and beyond them to the west is the Alai plateau.

After this the weather again became hazy, and increas-
ingly hot with sudden rapidity. The sun usually shone
through a dense haze, which fortunately served to miti-
gate the intense glare of its light reflected from the
white, sandy, and saline soil, as well as to diminish
the force of its rays. When it shone in a clear sky
the glare was insupportable to eyes unprotected by
spectacles, and the power of its rays was very consider-
able. On the 17th and 30th April the sun thermometer
registered their force at 139° F. and 140° F. respectively.
The sudden transition from winter to summer was at-
tended by an equally sudden transformation in the
appearance of the country so far as concerned its culti-
vated tracts, for the desert portion hardly changed its
character up to the time we left the country. Vegeta-
tion now burst forth all at once as it were, and filled
the spot, but a few days before bare of any such traces,
with foliage and verdure, and converted the whole settle-
ment into a seeming paradise. During the whole month
a N.W. wind blew with more or less steady persistence,
and occasionally freshened to a gale which raised storms
of dust lasting for hours, and more severe, both in inten-
sity and duration, than those one usually experiences in
the Panjab.

The appearance of spring was a welcome sight to the
people, for their winter stock of forage and corn was be-

BENEFITS OF OUR STAY AT KASHGHAR. 381

ginning to run low owing to the extra consumption of our
party added to the usual demands upon the stores of the
place. Amongst other supplies allotted for the daily
consumption of the embassy as guests of the Amir were
sixty charyak (1200 Ibs.) of maize corn (in place of bar-
ley which is seldom seen here), ten of rice, and six of
flour, twenty loads of fire-wood, fifty of straw, and two
hundred bundles of lucerne, and three sheep. The pro-
duction of this daily ration soon fell heavily on the
resources of the place, and some delay occurred once or
twice in its collection.

Yangi Hissar is a dirty and decayed little market-town
of perhaps five hundred houses. Its people are in keep-
ing with their abode — poorly clad and ill-favoured, if not
horribly ugly. Amongst them are a great manyKhitay
converts who seem to have been brought together here
from all parts of the country. The place is an important
military post and has a strong fort on the plain north of
the town. In it are kept the government treasures, and
some political detenus, and some members of the Amir's
harem.

"Whilst here we had an opportunity of making some
inquiries into the character, and habits of the people of
the country, of which I had received no very flattering
description from the Turkish officers at Kashghar, whose
impressions regarding their brethren in the far east ap-
pear to have been far in advance of the reality of their
condition. "Without concurring in the wholesale con-
demnation of them as "brute beasts" with one whose
opinion was formed mainly from his experience of the
Uzbak soldiery of Andijan in the garrison of Kashghar ;
and whose liberal education in the modern school of the
Turkish capital perhaps raised him above the intellectual
status of those he was here thrown amongst on terms of

382 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

brotherhood and equality very different from the circum-
stances of our contact with them as foreign guests
enjoying the favour of the king — I find some difficulty
in arriving at a satisfactory conclusion for myself.

We were so hedged in by the Andijani officials ap-
pointed to do us honour, and found everything so prepared
to convey a good impression, that we saw next to no-
thing of the social life of the people amongst them-
selves ; though we were constantly reminded by little
incidents of every day occurrence of the vigilance of the
domination under which they are kept. Our presence
at the capital seemed to put everybody on his best beha-
viour, and we found matters going smoothly enough,
though under an undefined sense of fear and insecurity
prominent everywhere; but during our stay here (at
Yangi Hissar), reports reached us of how much our de-
parture was regretted by the people at Kashghar, because
the capricious tempers in the palace had resumed their
sway, and the bastinado and thumbscrew were making
up the arrears of lost time.

Allowance must be made for the difficult position of
the Uzbak conquerors, who hold the wide territory of
their conquest with an army of less than twenty thousand
Khocandi troops, as well as for the naturally to be ex-
pected hardships of a sudden transition from the tolerant
rule of the Chinese to that of an intolerant Islam ; and
then the rulers may be justly accredited with holding
what they have won with no more than the requisite
vigilance and determination.

Under the Chinese rule, from all accounts, there seems
to have existed a much wider range of personal liberty
than is now permitted under the strict code of the
Sharidt, and so far as the physical welfare of the people
is concerned the change does not appear to be of un-

OPIUM SMOKERS. 383

mixed benefit, particularly in the matter of meats and
drinks and public morals.

Fermented liquors and spirits, and some kinds of flesh,
which under the Chinese rule had become common to
Muslim and Budhist alike, are now religiously sup-
pressed as prohibited by law, and any infraction of the
ordinance on this point is punished very severely.
But opium and hemp, which are not included in the
list of unlawful meats, are set under no restrictions, and
are consequently abused to an alarming extent by all
classes and both sexes. One of the Turkish officers in
describing to me the society he had found at Kashghar,
said that the people had no sociability or conversation,
and that they stupefied their intellects with these drugs,
and conducted themselves in their dwellings regardless
of decency in the presence of strangers.

At Yangi Hissar are three divans for opium smoking.
They are dark low chambers with a number of pillows
arranged along the floor with a lamp at the side of each.
And against the walls are shelves full of labelled and
neatly folded bundles of the clothes and chattels left in
pawn by the victims of the habit. The smoker on pay-
ing for his dose gets a pipe charged with a moist paste
of the drug applied round the sides of a small orifice at
one end of the tube. He lies down with his head on a
pillow and turning to the lamp at its side draws two or
three good whiffs of the flame through the opium paste,
and then falls off to sleep.

In the time of the Chinese, it is said, the habit was
not attended with such ill effects as now because the
smokers, as generally the eaters, worked off the ill
effects of the drug by active exercise in the pursuits of
daily life, but now the people are deprived of this safe-
guard, and succumb more rapidly to its enervating effects.

384 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

How this can be does not seem very clear, though of
the prevalence of the use of both drugs to an almost
general extent there is abundant evidence. Under the
Chinese the morality of the people in the relations of
the sexes appears to have been very lax. Besides the
painted sirens of the public markets, there was the
chaucdn always ready to contract an alliance for a long
or short period with the merchant or traveller visiting
the country, or with anybody else. Both the jalab and
the chaucdn are now suppressed, and the sex is subjected
to the seclusion imposed by Islam, with its unequal dis-
tribution and concomitant vices. The sudden abrogation
of their wonted privileges was not submitted to by the fair
Tatars until many of their rebellious sisters were sacri-
ficed as an exemplary warning to offenders against the
law, and it is said that sixteen defiant champions for the
liberties of the sisterhood were publicly executed at Acsu,
before the marriage law of the Sharia't was accepted.

"With the loose example set by the ruler and his
army, however, the Tatar ladies find no great difficulty
in evading the restrictions of the law, and amongst
certain classes they avail themselves of the facilities for
divorce to change their husbands much at their pleasure,
and to no small profit to themselves personally.

For example a woman marries a man at Yarkand, and
after two or three months she quarrels with him, and
gets a letter of divorce from the Cazi, and the dower
fixed on her. After the 'iddat term fixed by law, she
will marry a second in the same city and treat him like-
wise. She will then, without waiting the 'iddat term, go
to Yangi Hissar, and there, showing the first letter of
divorce as proof of her freedom, marry a third husband,
and having secured his dower get rid of him in the
same way, to repeat a similar rdle at Kashghar, and so

EXPERIENCES OF A PANJABI TRADER. 385

on back to her home at Yarkand, where with a small for-
tune at command she may marry the man of her choice.

"Whilst halted here there arrived from Yarkand to see
the envoy a Panjabi Sikh who had come over the passes
late in the season with a venture of goods for this
market. He had experienced hard weather on the
passes, and had been obliged to abandon some of his
loads for other following caravans to bring on, or to lie
there till his return homewards. He was now exultant
in the success of his speculation, having cleared upwards
of fifty per cent, profit. He asked me to do something
for his feet which had caused him much suffering on the
journey, and which still crippled him in his gait. I told
him to remove the long Tatar boots he wore, and in
doing so he left the tops of the great toe and its next of
one foot in the boot, and presented the other foot with
the top joints of the great toe and two next perfectly
black and mortified from frost-bite some three months
ago. They were in process of separation from the living
flesh, and little was required but patience and a little
simple dressing.

He had travelled with hardly more care and expense
on himself than he had expended on his hired cattle,
and apparently shared the hardships of the journey
much on a par with them. The difficulties of this route
are not to be properly appreciated till one has expe-
rienced them. The inconveniences of absolute desert,
and the risks of high elevation, are permanent and un-
changing, whilst the hardships of frosts and snows in
winter are changed for the difficulties of floods and,
avalanches in summer.

Yet so great is the spirit of commercial enterprise that
merchants are found to risk them all for the sake of the
profits to be derived under the fostering encouragement

2B

386 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

they find on both sides. Much has been heard during re-
cent years of the prospects of trade in this direction, and
the capability of its assuming important development. I
will not pretend to offer an opinion on the subject, but
may state some facts regarding it within my knowledge.

On the overthrow of the Chinese rule ten years ago the
trade relations of Kashghar from Turfan westward were at
once and completely severed from China. The southern
states of Khutan and Yarkand then turned for the supply
of their wants to the nearest markets, those of Kashmir
and the Panjab, whilst the northern states from Kashghar
to Turfan resorted in like manner to the markets on the
Russian side of the passes in that direction. The trade
connections thus formed in opposite directions have
remained distinct to the present time. That is to say,
the two southern cities are in the hands of British
traders, and the rest are in the hands of Eussian
traders.

The ruler of the whole territory has concluded a Com-
mercial Treaty with each of these two governments on
terms equally favourable to both, and the question of
success depends now upon the merits of the rival traders,
and the suitability of their merchandise to the require-
ments and tastes of the people.

With the Kashghar government the goods of the
British trader up to a certain limit will, so far as appear-
ances indicate, find a ready market, if not with the local
merchants ; because cotton-prints, muslins, broadcloths,
silks, &c., are in great demand for the troops and
officials, amongst whom they are distributed by way of
presents, and in lieu of pay.

With the people the wares usually brought by Russian
traders, such as brass candlesticks, iron cauldrons and
other hardware, with tea, and some coarse cotton-prints

PROSPECTS OF TRADE. 387

of peculiar pattern, promise to keep the favour they at
present enjoy.

As to the comparative facilities for transit on the op-
posite sides I can say nothing more than that, if they
are as great on the north as they are on the south, the
competitors will have a fair field for their peaceful
rivalry, and that, too, over as hard and wearying bit of
ground as is nowhere else to be found.

Having received intimation that the Kabul route was
not available to us, and Col. Gordon having reported
his departure from Panjah on the return journey towards
India, the envoy on the 3d May marched with his camp
from Yangi Hissar en route for Yarkand by the road we
travelled before. We reached Yarkand on the 6th, and
alighting at the Eesidency in the Yangishahr, on the
following morning paid a visit to the Dadkhwah. He
received us with his former hospitality, and very atten-
tively forwarded the preparations for our onward journey
by the Kokyar route, on which we soon after found
supplies laid down at the several stages up to the Kash-
mir frontier.

The weather during our stay here was thick and hazy,
and clouds of dust.wrere raised by every puff of air. The
temperature during our stay from the 7th to the 17th
May inclusive ranged between a maximum of 93° F. and
a minimum of 40° F., and on the 8th the sun's rays
showed a heating power of 135° F,

CHAPTER XII.

ON the llth May Haji Tora arrived from Kashghar with
presents from the Amir for the Queen and for the
Viceroy ; and after delivering them to the envoy, he
prolonged his stay here for a few days to see us fairly
started on our journey. He was accompanied from the
capital by a M. Ladislas Berzenczey, a Hungarian tra-
veller, who had, so he told us, set out from Buda Pesth
to investigate the early history of the Magyars in the
ancient seat of their forefathers. He had arrived at
Kashghar some days after our departure thence, and
now, on our making his acquaintance, favoured us with
a very interesting account of his varied life and travels,
and of the long journey he had just made through Russia
and Siberia down to this place.

He did not at all approve of the customs he found in
force in the ancient home of his ancestors, and was loud
in complaint of his treatment at the capital. The six
weeks of his hospitable detention there as the guest of
the Amir appears to have weighed upon him more
heavily than did the six months' durance of our travellers
Messrs Hayward and Shaw upon them, and he altered
his plans to proceed to India with us. The envoy, ac-
ceding to the wishes of the lonesome traveller, exerted
his good offices on his behalf with the authorities, and
they, with their well-known hospitality, furnished the
stranger with an escort, and the necessary provisions for
his journey, and conducted him in safety to the frontier ;
on arrival there he was received as a guest, and for-

DEPARTURE FROM YARKAND. 389

warded on his way to Leh by Mr Johnson the Maharaja's
governor of Ladakh.

On the 17th May, having received intelligence of the
return of Col. Gordon's party to Sarigh Cul, the envoy,
attended by Capt. Chapman and myself, paid a farewell
visit to the Dadkhwah to thank him for his many kind
attentions, and next morning we set out on our home-
ward march.

We left the Yangishahr at 5.30 A.M., and passing
through the city went out at the gate by which we
entered it on first arrival. There were few people in
the streets, and we passed out more quietly, and unob-
servedly than such a party as ours would have done from
any Indian town.

For an hour we went across a tract of cultivated land,
delightfully fresh and green, and fording the Zilchak
canal above a rickety rustic bridge, which was supported
on two piers of boulders and faggots between the banks,
alighted at some trees on the other side to drink a part-
ing cup of tea with our friend Haji Tora. We here
took leave of him with sincere feelings of respect for his
talents, and gratitude for his friendship towards us, and
with hearty good wishes for his prosperity and success.

We went on through the homesteads of Aral and
Otunchilik, and in an hour and five minutes came to
the Yarkand river. We forded it barely stirrup-deep in
two wide streams, and in fifteen minutes more alighted
at the Yangichak rest-house, twelve miles.

Next day we marched to Yakshamba Bazar, eighteen
miles. The route went S.W. to S.S.W. over the cul-
tivated meadow tract of lykisu Arasi or "Mesopotamia"
(between the rivers Zarafshan and Tiznaf) to Posgam,
where we alighted for breakfast under the shade of
some fine poplars, from the lofty boughs of which

390 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

issued the note of the cuckoo, and the call of the golden
oriole.

From this we turned due south, and at six miles came
to the staging bungalow, where we alighted. The country
is remarkably well wooded, and presents a rich cham-
paign freely irrigated by canals. The corn was just
coming into ear, and the peasant was seen scattering the
seed for the cotton crop. The common English field
flowers and weeds abounded everywhere, and the path
was overgrown with wild liquorice and blue iris.

Our next stage was Karghalik, sixteen miles, through
a similar tract, crossing the river Tiznaf at the second
mile out. Here we were accommodated in the rest-house
which we occupied on our up journey. On the march,
for the first time since our arrival in the country, we
saw large flocks of sheep and goats at graze, and also
some small herds of cattle.

At Karghalik we struck off the road by which we came
last year for another to the right, and going due south
camped at Beshtarik or "Five Poplars," twenty miles.
In forty-five minutes we cleared cultivation, and entered
on a wide gravelly and stony waste sloping to a ridge of
sand-hills that run across the plain west and east. In
one hour more we entered a gap in this ridge, and fol-
lowed a gully, from half a mile to a mile broad between
steep banks of conglomerate and shingle, up to our stage,
where we camped under the shade of the clump of trees
which gives it its name. A cold wind blew against us
from the mountains to the south, and during the day
raised clouds of dust about us. There are a few huts
here, and some small patches of cultivation, but all
around is desert waste and sand.

At this place we were glad to see the faces of two of
our old Bhot coolies. They had just come in with a

THE KOKYAR ROUTE. 391

letter for Captain Chapman, from Mr Johnson at Nubra,
detailing the arrangements he had made for our passage
of the Caracoram and Saser. They were very complete,
and amongst others, included the collection of fifteen
hundred coolies in Nubra, for the service of our camp.

Yolaric, twelve miles, w^as our next stage, route south.
A few minutes' ride took us out of the Beshtarik gully
on to a wide, wind-swept, pebbly desert crossed by a
ridge of sand-hills to our right and front. We passed
between them, and camped on the " Eoad rivulet " out-
side the village of the little settlement of that name.
Yolaric consists of a collection of about twenty houses
clustered together, and as many scattered farmsteads to
the eastward in the direction of Ushac Bash, which is
not visible from here, owing to the intervening banks
and ridges of ground. A violent dust storm blew all
the afternoon, and obscured even the orchards and trees
around our camp.

Next day we marched to Kokyar, twelve miles. Koute
west, across a sandy ridge two miles off, and then up the
gully of the Kokyar river, which flows in a narrow wind-
ing valley from south to north, between high ridges of
sand and gravel, to the town itself which is the capital
of this district.

It is a flourishing village of about a hundred houses
crowded together under the shade of some large trees,
and its suburbs extend as farmsteads up and down the
river course for several miles. We found here numbers of
yellow-hammers in the fields of corn, and a blue- throated
warbler in the bushes along our route.

On the top of the ridge at the outset of this march we
passed a shrine half buried in loose sand. As we ap-
proached it all our attendants dismounted, and, saying a
prayer, led their horses past the hallowed spot. It is the

392 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

first time we have seen such veneration amongst this
people. The shrine is called Sichcanluc Mazar or " The
Mouse Shrine," and marks the spot where Calich Burhan,
a son of Hazrat Afac, died in his flight towards India, as
our guides informed us. In connection with the punc-
tual discharge of their devoirs at the grave of the great
saint's son, one of the party related to us an incident in
proof of the sanctity of the spot, if it was not intended
also as a rebuke to those of us who rode past without
according to the memory of the martyr that reverence
which it was, in this country at all events, held en-
titled to.

He said that there was formerly an irreverent Beg of
this place (Kokyar) who neglected to dismount at the
hallowed spot, and as he rode by a crow hovering over-
head made a strike, and pecked his horse in the eye.
The animal plunged, and reared with the agony of the
wound till it threw the Beg, who, falling on his face upon
the sand, knocked out his front teeth by'the concussion,
and bled to death there and then. The circumstance is
notorious in the country, and nobody ever thinks of riding
past Sichcdnluc Mazar without dismounting at the shrine,
and repeating a blessing on the saint and asking his
protection on the road.

Next morning, the 24th May, we passed beyond the
limit of the settled habitations, and entered the hills. The
route goes mostly south, but turns from side to side to-
wards south-east and south-west alternately. On leav-
ing camp we crossed the muddy little stream of Kokyar
on a firm pebbly bottom, and at three miles, clearing its
cultivation, entered on a sandy and gravelly plain limited
in extent by ridges of some height. We went across it
to the south, and at another three miles again crossed
the stream at Posar, which is a cluster of eight or ten

« THE WHITE MOSQUE." 393

huts surrounded by small patches of cultivation, and
shaded by some large poplar trees.

At this spot we left habitation and cultivation behind
us, and entering the hills followed up the course of a
long, winding, and narrow gully, and at twenty-four
miles from Kokyar camped on an open flat above the
dry watercourse which here runs between high banks of
clay and shingle. The stage is called Ac Masjid, " the
white mosque," and is a mere camp ground at the foot
of the Topa Dawa*n, and apparently is not much used.

The hills on either side are of brown shale resting on
limestone and sandstone, both of which here and there
present outcrops between beds of shingle. The rocks are
stratified, run from west to east, and dip suddenly to the
north at an angle of from 70° to 80°. Vegetation is very
scanty. The arnebia or " Prophet Flower," and the
orobanche were found growing along the roadside on
the gravel path and sandy banks on either hand. The
artemisia and peganum covered the surface on the level
tracts, and the thorny astragalus, and a kind of sedum
formed little brakes here and there in the hollows.

The wheatear and a large rose-coloured finch fluttered
about from stone to stone, whilst the chough sailed
amongst the cliffs uttering his loud shrill cry ; and the
magpie flew backwards and forwards seeking a hiding
place from the strange intruders on the privacy of his
solitude.

The rise throughout the last half of the march is very
appreciable, though nowhere sudden. The elevation of this
place is about 8500 feet. It is a dreary spot on the verge
of the sandy plain and its populous oases on one side, and
the mountain waste and its desolate plateaux on the other.
Our next stage was Chighlic, twelve miles. We left
camp at 4.5 A.M., and reached the crest of Topa Dawa"n

394 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

or "The Earthy Pass" at 5.35 A.M. The road wound
between south-east and south-west up a narrowing sulcus,
and then rose by a steep ascent to the top of the pass. The
path was deep in dust, and the slopes of the hills were of
loose dry earth covered with tufts of artemisia and blue
iris ; whilst in their hollows was a thin and stunted brush-
wood of the astragalus, rose, and honeysuckle, and a
number of little flowering plants upon their banks.

At about half way up we saw, through the gap of one
of the collateral drainage gullies, a herd of six wild yak
or cutas (Bos grunniens) at graze on the upper slope of
a hill about a mile to our left. They appeared to be of
huge size, and much more shaggy than their domesticated
fellows. Two of them were crouched on the hill slope,
and looked like great black rocks. All were of a dark
colour, and one of enormous size — probably the bull of
the herd — stood staring at us as we went by.

The elevation of the pass is about 10,200 feet, and its
slopes are occupied by colonies of the marmot. The
descent on the other side is at first south-west down a
steep zigzag path, several inches deep in loose dry earth,
on to an outcrop of white marble and slate rocks.

Here the road becomes narrow and difficult, and is
much obstructed by fragments of rock. Below them it
passes through a gap in which is a small spring. In its
little pool I found some thread worms of a black colour,
and two or three inches long.

Beyond this the road becomes easy, and descends gra-
dually down a widening gully into the bed of the Tiznaf
river. We reached it at 7 A.M., and turning due south up
its course, in ten minutes arrived on our camp ground. It
is on the beach under a ledge of green trap rock, and is
shaded by a grove of poplar and willow trees. The
shingly bed of the river occupies the whole of the narrow

MARCH UP THE RIVER T2ZNAF. 395

valley here, except this little flat, which is grown over
with coarse reeds of the kind called chigh (whence the
name of the spot), and supports a small patch of brush-
wood of rose, tamarisk, honeysuckle, &c.

We here found a party of Yarkandis who had been sent
out by the Dadkhwah in charge of the supplies laid
down on this route for our camp ; and a similar party of
five or six of their fellows met us at each stage in ad-
vance up to the frontier.

The elevation of this place is about 8250 feet. The
weather was changeable and chilly, and for two hours
after noon thunder showers fell on our camp.

We did not march till 7 A.M. next morning, in order
to allow the river flood to subside somewhat. It is
caused at this season by the melting of the snows and
glaciers of the Toraghil range, and sets in here daily
at about sunset. It goes on increasing during the night
till daylight, and then gradually subsides till the next
flood comes down at sunset.

Our route wound from S.S.E. to S., and led up the river
to Khoja Mazar, 18 miles. We forded the stream from
side to side twenty-four times en route. The water was
running swiftly girth-deep, and the passage was difficult
owing to the great boulders in the way. The hills on
each side are bare and wild, and consist of lofty granite
and serpentine masses, which are here and there overlaid
by hills of shale. They slope steeply to the river, along
whose course, now on one side and then on the other, is
a succession of small flats covered with a more or less
thick brushwood of buckthorn, myricaria, tamarisk, rose,
willow, fig, &c., with an abundant growth of coarse
grasses.

At about three miles below camp we crossed a rapid
noisy torrent coming down from the hills to the west.

396 . KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

In its valley there is, we were told, a copper mine which
was worked in the time of the Chinese. On the way up
to this tributary stream, which is called Kughda Su, we
passed a number of abandoned and decayed smelting
furnaces on the roadside.

Mazar Khoja is a camp ground on a shelving bank
overlooked by a bare hill, at the foot of which stands a
solitary shrine dedicated to the memory of a demented
Khoja who perished here nobody could tell us when, or
how, or wherefore. His name, our guide informed us,
was Sultan Shekh Hisamuddin, surnamed Diwana or
" The Demented." He died on some converting expedi-
tion against the infidels of this country whilst making
his way up the Sugatlik Jilga, and the exact spot is, so
our authority stated, marked by a stone pillar the size of
a man, at two task, or ten miles, up the glen. Its body
is black, but the head is white like a turban, and it is
propped up in a pile of stones resembling melons.
His dying injunctions to his servants were, to load his
body on a camel, and, setting its head homewards, to
bury him at the spot on which the brute first rested.
The camel sat down on the spot where the shrine marks
his grave. If it serves no other purpose, it at least
gives the locality a name. Next day we marched to
Duba, 6 miles, and halted a day, the 28th May. We
crossed the river, and followed up its right bank due
south, and, crossing a tributary torrent from the east,
camped on a turfy flat in the angle of junction between
the two, where the banks are fringed with a belt of willow
trees. The elevation here is about 10,000 feet.

The stream from the east is called Sugat Jilga, and
that from the south Toraghil Jilga. When we arrived
in camp, at a little after 8 A.M., the streams were rapidly
subsiding, and just before the flood came down one could

THE PAKHPU HIGHLANDERS. 397

cross dry shod stepping from stone to stone. At 4 P.M.,
however, the water came down with a sudden rush and
tumultuous roar, and in a few minutes filled the channel
from bank to bank with a muddy torrent of great force.
.Some of our party happened to be on the opposite bank
at the time, and they had to spend the night there
round their camp fires, with such supper as we could sling
across to them in little bundles weighted with a stone.

Duba is a favourite pasture-ground of the people of
this country, who are called Pakhpu or Papii. They are
a tall, very fair, and handsome race of a purely Aryan
physiognomy, to judge from the few of their men who
were here in attendance on our camp. They were very
poorly clad, and carried matchlocks — the first armed
men, other than government servants, we have met in
the country — nevertheless they appeared to be very
timid and subdued, and were very cautious in giving
any information regarding themselves ; and, as I thought,
tried to mislead on a hint from one of our Yarkand
attendants who on previous occasions had exercised his
authority to such purpose. On the approach of our
party they had removed their cattle and families into
the glens off our route, and consequently we saw but
little of them. They spoke Turki to our people, but I
heard two of them speaking together in quite a different
language. In the time of the Chinese there were fifty
families who used to camp here, but now their number
is reduced to fifteen or twenty.

They are spread through the vallies and glens of the
district called Khalistan, which extends from the Topa
Dawdn to the Toraghil glacier, and embraces within its
limits the head waters of the Tiznaf, and the upper
courses of the streams that form the Yarkand river.
Their chief town is called Chukchii, and is said to be two

398 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

days' journey west of Chiglilik. It contains, according
to one account I received, fifty houses, and according to
another nearly two hundred.

The Pakhpu are hereditary enemies of their neighbours
to the west — the Kunjud people — and, for centuries,
have been habitually raided by them, and their captives
sold into slavery in Wakhan and Badakhshan. Since
the establishment of the Amir's rule, however, they have
enjoyed security from this source of loss.

They are professedly musalmans of the ShicC sect like
the Wakhi and Badakhshi, but they shave the head like
the people of the plain. They live by tending cattle, and
cultivating small patches of corn in the lower valleys.
They denounce the Kunjud people as infidels, and
describe them as a very powerful, handsome, and fair
skinned people who wear long ringlets, and speak a
language which is intelligible to the Wakhis, but not
to themselves. Kunjud is said to be fourteen days'
journey west of this, and beyond a branch of the Yar-
kand river which flows through a valley to the south-
west of Toraghil glacier.

From Duba we marched to Gurunj Caldi, nine miles.
Eoute south to south-east up the course of the Tiznaf
river which we crossed at starting, and three times more
en route, as well as two tributaries from the west. The
river bed is obstructed by large boulders of granite trap
which render the fords difficult. In winter the passage
is made over the ice, and with more ease.

At Gurunj Caldi, which means " Eice left behind "
— in allusion to some local tradition of a party of mer-
chants being put to flight by the sudden rush of the
river flood, which necessitated the abandoning of the
rice in process of preparation for the evening meal —
we camped on a turfy slope on which were a number of

PERIODICAL FLOODS. 399

marmot burrows, and some boggy springs. Its eleva-
tion is about 11,900 feet. On the way up we found
rhubarb sprouting at the foot of some schistose banks,
but vegetation generally, even along the river course,
is very scanty.

The flood here came down at 2 P.M. — a violent tor-
rent of liquid mud to all appearance.

Our next stage was Chiragh Saldi, " The lamp blew
out " — in reference to the winds of the locality — four-
teen miles. Route south-east up the course of the
river, which here flows in a wide, shingly bed deep
down to the left of the road. At four miles the river
forks. One stream comes from the south-east, the other
from the south-west. The former comes from the water-
shed of the Toghrasu tributary of the Caracash which we
crossed on our upward journey.

We followed the course of the latter by a path high
up its bank (where it flows in a narrow, rocky gully, the
slopes of which are covered with granite boulders), and
then crossing some moraine banks and bits of turf came
to a wider and shingly channel, from which the moun-
tains slope away in vast banks of granite and schist.

At about ten miles we passed Kirghiz Tarn, which is
a ruined outpost, originally erected here to protect the
route against the Kunjud robbers. At this spot the
river bends round a spur (across which there is a path
when the channel is impassable) to the right ; and
beyond it we entered a wider channel, which we found
was covered with a sheet of hard snow, under ledges
of which the river flowed in four or five streams.

Our road went along the surface of this snow, now
fast breaking up, and brought us to our camp in the
angle of junction between two branches of the river.
That to the south comes from Yangi Da wan, and that

400 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

to the south-west from Toraghil glacier. The elevation
here is about 14,200 feet. Our camp was pitched on a
pebbly surface in the midst of a thin jungle of tamarisk
and hololachne.

Culan Uldi, " The wild horse died," twelve miles, was
our next stage. Koute south-south-east to south-east
up a winding and narrowing gully to the Yangi Dawan
or " New Pass." At the foot of the rise, which is short
and steep over clay and shingle, but not difficult, there
is a branch gully leading up to a snowy ridge close by
to the west. On both sides of the pass we found a num-
ber of snow buntings and rose finches, searching about
for what they could pick on the path. We reached the
crest of the pass in fifty minutes from camp. Its eleva-
tion is about 15,800 feet, and its summit presents a
wide view to the north-west, in which direction are seen
some high snowy masses. In other directions the dis-
tant view is obstructed by high intervening ridges in
the vicinity. The descent is easy for the first three
miles, or less, down an earthy and stony gully. It
then drops suddenly into a deep and narrow gorge,
which we found blocked by a small glacier in process
of dissolution. Its passage was by a very steep and
slippery path, and very difficult — now across the ice,
then along a ledge of rock with barely footing for the
horse, and anon through little streams flowing in grooves
on the surface of the melting ice. Here and there great
fissures ran across the ice, and presented obstructions
which occasioned some delay in the passage. The rocks
in some parts were no more than twenty feet apart
across the ice, and towered aloft in steep cliffs whose
shade threw a gloom upon the passage below. We
found five recently dead horses on the ice, and noticed
that rump steaks had been cut out of one of them.

PASSAGE OF YA.NGI DA WAN. 401

And we passed six or seven others standing on little
ledges under the rock, unable to move backward or for-
ward ; poor creatures abandoned to die, for they were
stripped of clothing and halter, and presented raw
withers and famished barrels. They were some of the
cattle employed to lay down the provisions for our camp.

Below this mass of ice, which we were told would
entirely disappear in another month, though it yet fills
the gorge for a length of nearly two miles, we entered on
a wide and flat shingle bed which slopes gently between
perpendicular banks of conglomerate. We went down
it for a couple of miles, and emerged into the valley of
the Yarkand river, and crossing the stream went east up
its course for a mile, and then camped in a patch of
tamarisk jungle.

The river bed here seems nearly level, is fully half
a mile wide, and its low banks slope away in long sweeps
up to the hills on each side. The elevation here is about
12,650 feet.

Next day, 1st June, we marched up the river to Kuk
At Aghzi, " The mouth of the blue horse," fifteen miles.
Here and there we went across great fields of hard snow,
and through long stretches of tamarisk, myricaria, and
hololachne jungle, and forded the stream from side to
side several times en route.

The hills on either side are schists and slates, of con-
siderable height, and perfectly bare. At about half way
we crossed a tributary torrent from the south-west, and
observed a glacier at the top of its gully. Further on,
on the opposite side of the river, we crossed a dry gully
full of granite boulders, apparently from a high glacier-
topped mountain to the north-east. The ascent in this
march is very gradual, and barely perceptible. The ele-
vation of the camp stage is about 12,870 feet. On the

2c

402 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

ground we found the carcase of a wild horse which had
evidently only recently died, if one were to judge merely
from its fresh state, and the marks it bore of having
been eaten by wild animals. I counted its vertebrse,
and found seven cervical, eighteen dorsal, and five lum-
bar ; the same number as in the skeleton of a baggage
horse which, a few days earlier, I examined on the Topa
Dawa"n. During the afternoon a live one, probably its
companion, created some excitement in camp by gallop-
ing right through it.

Weather cloudy and gusty, with rain at sunset, and
snow during the night. Our next two stages were
Kashmir Jilga, twenty-six miles, and Khapalang, twelve
miles, up the river course. At two miles from Kuk
At Aghzi we passed the ruins of an outpost fort, situated
at the mouth of a glen which leads over a ridge to the
east down to Shahidulla — a journey of two days. Beyond
it, turning south, we went through a long stretch of
tamarisk brushwood and grass in the river bed. It is
called Kirghiz Jangal, and is a favourite summer resort
of those nomads. A thunderstorm with hail passed over
camp at Kashmir Jilga.

At Khapalang we camped in the angle of junction of
two branches of the river, in a patch of jungle which
extends several miles up and down the valley. At this
place next morning, the 4th June, we parted from our
Yarkand companions, Yuzbashi Tash Khoja, and the
Beg of Kokyar, and their small following. Their good
offices had been of the greatest service to us, and were
received with many thanks, and some substantial keep-
sakes by way of acknowledgments of their attentions ;
and they were at the same time charged with kind mes-
sages to the Dadkhwah for the supplies laid down so
satisfactorily for us. They then went back to render

MOUNTAINS SPREAD INTO PLATEAUX. 403

to Colonel Gordon's party, following in our route, the
same good offices they had performed for us, and we
proceeded on our way up the course of the river which
comes down from the watershed of Caracoram. At Actagh,
twenty miles, we joined our former route, and met our
old friends the Bhots, and received their salutations of
" Jo! Jo!" with that satisfaction which the feeling of
returning to tried friends produces. We found they
had ample supplies for us, and had brought over about
a hundred ponies for the service of the camp. At about
five miles out of camp, crossing the river three times on
the way, we came to a sheet of hard snow which filled its
bed for the rest of the march, up to within a few hundred
yards below our camp at Actagh, where it ceased. Our
road led over its surface from side to side, or through tor-
tuous fissures through its thick stratum as it passed from
bank to bank. In some parts the snow was twelve or
fourteen feet thick, and the sides of its fissures pre-
sented a greenish icy surface fast melting away into the
several streams of the river flowing beneath it.

As we went on over its surface we entered on a scene
quite different to anything we had seen before, and unique
of its kind. The low vertical banks of the river bed
slope away in wide sweeps of bare shale up to low ranges
on which, between the snow patches still adhering to
their broad sides, are seen the varied shades of the clays
and shales composing them. The light earth stands out
amidst the black, and the yellow mottles the red, and
their wide surface rolls away into low ridges and banks
against the sky, at intervals projecting into it some
snowy cones, which seem to struggle up from below to
show themselves here on the top of the world. Not a blade
of vegetation is anywhere to bq seen, and in the wide
waste of departing snow and reappearing soil not the

404 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

least remarkable feature of the scene is its drainage
system.

Great, shallow, shingly water-runs mark the ground
on either hand with wedge-shaped gullies whose points
penetrate the hills, and whose broad bases stud the
river course, spreading it out as it were over the whole
face of the country, whilst themselves merge into it by
slopes that are barely perceptible. The long line of ridge
in front of our route looks, seen as it is here against the
sky, like the edge of a platform raised above the world ;
and the increasing effects of a rarefied atmosphere tell
by their inconveniences that we are really mounting
beyond its ordinary levels.

From Actagh we marched to Brangtsa at the foot of
the rise to the Caracoram pass, and crossing it next day
camped at Daulat Beg Uldi. About the pass there was
a good deal of snow in the process of thaw, and the soft
soil on either side was saturated with its water. Off the
beaten track, and in parts on it, our cattle sunk to the
knees in its bogs, and throughout the march laboured
over the heavy soil, whose mixed shingle and clay was
as soft as a ploughed field after a fall of rain, and con-
siderably deeper in mire.

From Daulat Beg Uldi, leaving the Cumdan route,
now impracticable owing to its floods, on the right, we
went south-east to south across the Dipsang plateau to-
wards the Burtsi camp ground, 26 miles distant.

The plateau rises -up in front of our position by a long
and wide sweep of the ground, and we ascended to it
over a long upland after crossing a boggy ravine at a
mile and a half out from camp. It drains the eastern
part of the Daulat Beg plateau into the stream formed
by the rivulets from the heights on and about its western
part at the Caracoram pass. We were camped on one of

VIEW FROM THE TOP OF THE WORLD. 405

these below the pass, and which lower down joins the
Shayok at Gyapthang. After crossing this ravine we
went up the course of a frozen stream draining into it,
and rising on to the Dipsang plateau, found ourselves on
the veritable top of the world. All around appeared
mountain ranges, none of which are less than twenty thou-
sand feet high, whilst to the west rose two lofty peaks of
much greater height ; yet in the distance they seemed
below us, for the land around sloped away down on all
sides. In whichever direction we looked the sky ap-
peared below us, and the world sunk down out of view.
, In fact we felt as if we had risen above the world, and
were now descending to it in front of us. -The Caracoram
left behind us appeared like a mere crest on the undu-
lating surface of the country, and the mountain ranges
in front, and on each side seemed to struggle up from
below to reach our level.

It was an extraordinary scene, and one not to be easily
effaced from the memory, impressed there as it is with
the recollections of its utter desolation and solitude, and
the hardships of its inhospitable air.

It was on the passage of this plateau, whose elevation
is about 17,500 feet above the sea, that our lamented
and talented comrade, Dr Stoliczka, suffered that de-
rangement of the vital functions which terminated in his
death at Murgi, two stages further on.

The Dipsang plateau is about eight miles across from
north to south, and presents an undulating surface, the
soil of which is a spongy saline charged mixture of clay
and gravel. When we crossed there was very little snow
left, and the path was strewed with the bones and
skeletons of dead cattle, though in no greater abundance
here than in many other parts of the route. A solitary
antelope crossed our path on the rise up to the plateau,

406 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

and in its passage we saw some small flocks of the
Siberian grouse ( syrrhaptes ) , of which I shot some speci-
mens the day before on our way across the Caracoram.

The descent from the plateau is down a steep gully
into a deep and tortuous chasm, which is overhung by
high cliffs of red clay, and conglomerate. The passage
is very steep and narrow, and goes through the midst
of a turbid torrent which fills the channel, and is as red
as the ground it passes over. In six minutes we passed
out of this gap, and with its stream entered into a
widening river bed which opens into a broader channel
coming down from the north-west. We entered the
latter at a camp ground called Kizil Langar, about six
miles from the plateau.

The hills on each side are very lofty, and present long
slopes of crumbling debris, which now and then are set
in motion downwards by stone avalanches from above.
At Kizil Langar we found the river channel strewed with
great stones which had recently rolled down from the
hill tops, but fortunately none were falling at the time
of our passage.

Beyond this we went south-east down the course of a
wide-spread stream, crossing it repeatedly on a loose
pebbly bed, and at ten miles on camped at Burtsi on a
ledge above the river bank. The elevation here is about
15,660 feet. On the way down one of our Bhot coolies
lost his footing whilst crossing the stream below Kizil
Langar, and was drowned, and carried away by the flood
which overwhelmed him in its passage.

Next day we marched to Murgi, twelve miles. Below
camp, just opposite a glacier-topped hill, the route turns
sharp from south to south-west and west down a very
rough and winding defile. The road is very difficult,
and crosses the river repeatedly, and avoids narrows, and

DIFFICULT BIT OF ROAD. 407

rapids, and rocks by steep paths, but little better than
mere goat tracks, which run across along the face of the
slopes of the debris that cover the projecting bluffs now
on one side then on the other of the torrent tumbling
down between them.

The hills are of quartzose limestone, similar to those
at Cumdan, and present many caverns on their upper
slopes ; whilst the hollows of their spurs are occupied by
small glaciers. For the last five or six miles of the route
the river is a foaming torrent, and dashes noisily over
huge rocks which fill the dark, deep, and narrow pas-
sage through which its waters buffet their way. It is
only passable at one or two places, and always with diffi-
culty, at this season owing to floods, and in winter owing
to snows.

At Murgi, the elevation of which is about 14,800
feet, it receives another gully from the west (in which
we camped), just below where it passes through a deep
cleft in the hills ; and at that spot the road goes over the
high terraced flat which projects into the angle of their
junction. On it are the remains of a breastwork of con-
siderable strength originally. It runs up and down and
across the hill slope, and ends at the edge of a cliff which
drops straight to the river. It was built, as was a
similar one at Tutyalac, some four hundred years ago by
the Bhot Kahlon, or "governor," of Nubra, who was, so
we were informed, called Suttim, as a bar to the progress
of Mirza Ababakar in his attempts to invade Tibat. But
they were both forced, and demolished some half century
later by his successor the Sultan Sa'ld.

We found the weather at Murgi very bleak and cold,
and next day, the 9th June, set out for the Saser
Brangtsa, ten miles, in a heavy fall of snow. We halted
there a day, weather-bound by what proved to be a very

4o8 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

opportune fall of snow. For despite its discomforts and
difficulties, it rendered the pass ahead safer of passage
than it would have been under the more agreeable sun-
shine, with its danger-working action on the glaciers.

Our route led up the gully to the west, and at two miles
passed the Chongtash or " Big Stone " camp ground,
which is a turfy flat around a great erratic block of stone
that rests on the saddle-shaped watershed of the pass.
At five miles beyond it we descended a steep bank into
a deep gully full of sheet snow, and, crossing it, rose by
a steep climb up to a path high up on its other side, and
then, turning south, followed it down to its junction with
the river Shayok a mile or so below the Brangtsa ford.

Here we were met by Mr W. H. Johnson, who had
prepared a couple of boats to take us across the river
in case its flood were otherwise impassable, and was now
waiting our arrival with a small army of Bhot coolies,
and yaks, and horses to help us through the Saser.
Amongst the other signs of our welcome back to British
territory were supplies of champagne, sherry, and other
liquors, with tins of Europe delicacies of sorts, &c., which
the Maharaja's kindly forethought had sent forward to
revive us after the hardships of the journey across the
passes.

We found that the cold weather which had just set in
had materially diminished the flood of the river, and our
camp, in consequence, made its passage with comparative
ease, though an unfortunate coolie was, like his comrade
above Burtsi, carried away and drowned in its current.

From this point we marched along our former route
by the Saser pass and Tutyalac to the inhabited valley of
Nubra. We entered it at Changlung, which now in the
fresh verdure of spring shone in its belt of sand and
rocks like an emerald set in silver. We passed over the

RETURN TO CIVILISATION. 409

glaciers of Saser in the midst of a snow storm, and saw
nothing of its glorious and majestic scenery, of which
our former passage had left such vivid recollections.
Instead of its noisy torrents, and crushing avalanches
we experienced only the less hazardous difficulties of snow
drifts and cold winds.

At Changlung, with the sight of the peopled world
before us, we shook off the memories of the desert pla-
teaux and all their asperities, and in the charming vallies
of the Nubra and the Shay ok lived again amongst friends,
and found freedom and confidence in place of what we
had left behind us. From Changlung we marched by
the stages of Panamik and Tagar to Satti through a
prosperous and fertile valley in the full radiance of
spring foliage. At Satti we diverged from our original
route, and, continuing up the course of the Shayok for
twelve miles more, turned out of its bed to the right,
and, rising round a high hill, at another seven miles
camped at Diggar, an inconsiderable village on an elevated
terrace high up in the mountains, and through the
midst of which flows a brisk and clear mountain torrent.
Its elevation is about 12,900 feet, and the change affected
several of our party severely, and in some produced
alarming symptoms of prostration. It is a very wild
spot, surrounded on three sides by lofty hills, and look-
ing down on the other to the low spurs which conceal
the Shayok valley from view.

Several of our cattle sickened here, and three died
from eating the wild herbs growing along the roadsides.
Amongst them I noticed the hyosciamus was very
abundant.

At this place, near the top of the village, there is a
gigantic figure of Chamba, similar to the one we passed
on the march from Shargol to Kharbo. It is carved on

410 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

the east face of a large isolated block of granite, and in
front of it are the decayed walls of a hut, which had
been built evidently to conceal the figure from the eyes
of a destroying enemy.

Next day, the 17th June, we marched to Leh, twenty-
four miles. We left the village by a path that wound
amongst a rough waste strewed all over with large gra-
nite boulders, and rose on to a moorland between high
hills of bare rock. Picking a way over this, amongst
peat bogs and masses of broken granite, we at six miles
came to some Polu huts at the foot of a long gully which
slopes up to the pass. The ground was covered with snow,
and dangerous to cattle off the path owing to the rough
stones hidden under its soft covering. At six miles more
we arrived at the crest of the pass, 17,600 feet high,
and, there dismounting, descended on foot to some Polu
huts on the other side by a very steep and zigzag path.
Beyond this we followed the glen down to the Sabbii
village, and then, turning west across a sandy slope,
passed through a gap in a ridge of granite into the basin
of Leh. And then the route went north up to the town
at the top of the slope.

At two or three miles out we were met by Captain
Molloy, the British Joint Commissioner at Leh, and a
number of the merchants of the place, and with their
welcome greetings as the first symptoms of the civilisa-
tion, liberty, and order that we were returning to, we
went on through the little town to our camp in the
Eesidency compound beyond.

At the entrance to the bazar the envoy was received
by a military guard, and a salute of fifteen guns was
fired from the fort away to the left, whilst the house-
tops and the balconies along our route were crowded
with the Tatar residents of the place, bowing their wel-

RECEPTION AT LEH. 411

come to the usual tune of " Jo, Jo," with that look of
good-nature for which they are noted.

"We felt we had now left all difficulties behind us,
and had once more returned to security, freedom,
and justice. And none appreciated the change more
thoroughly than our native camp followers, who were
again at the threshold of their own homes, and more
than ever grateful that their lot was not cast under the
despot's rule.

For myself, as we n eared the end of our journey, I
viewed the change under a different aspect, and my
mind ran over the countries beyond on this side of our
Indian possessions, and over those beyond on their
western side, and, comparing their past history, and pre-
sent conditions, with the progressing course of events,
very speedily perceived, and gave form to the indica-
tions of the coming future. It has been my lot to
travel over the countries beyond the western frontier of
our Indian Empire, and I have now seen a little of
those beyond its northern frontier, and, though still
lamentably so, I am not altogether ignorant of the
region which lies beyond our north-west frontier and
between those two points, for I have enjoyed the ad-
vantages of a position on that part of the frontier which
offered least obstacles to its study. And I can now,
from personal observation, and many years of attention
to the subject, very easily understand how it is that
every invasion of India has been from the west, whether
the conqueror came originally from that direction or
from the north. And I believe that, had the country
beyond our western frontier been similar to that beyond
its northern, history would never have had to chronicle
any one of those invasions, which from the time of
Alexander to that of Nadir, form the great epochs

4i2 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

in the varied annals of India. Nay, I believe that,
had the geography been reversed, that is, had the
western frontier been like the northern, and the northern
like the western, then all those invasions would have
been recorded as following the northern, and not the
western route.

The Musalmans of India class themselves under the
four great ethnic divisions of Arab, Pathan, Mughal,
and Shekh. This last comprises all the indigenous
tribes converted to Islam, and the others represent the
different conquering nations of India. They may be
likened to the Norman, Dane, and Saxon of our own
history, the Gael being represented by the Shekh. Not-
withstanding their very widely different seats, these
conquering nations all entered India by the same route.
In fact, all the invasions of India, of which we have any
knowledge prior to the time of Nadir, followed the
same route by the Kabul passes, and owed their success
to the co-operation of the highlanders in that direction,
who always sided with the invader, because their country
was open to assault from that quarter; and because,
whilst resistance was hopeless, co-operation with the
assailant promised a glorious career of success on the
wide field of India's rich domain. This result, however,
which has been so often proved by the facts of history,
is not possible on the northern frontier, because the
circumstances are reversed, and the conditions are in-
compatible in that direction. The highlanders in that
direction are open to assault from the south, but they
are protected against the north by the nature of the
country which forms their barrier in that direction.

Of the prohibitive nature of this natural barrier we
have abundant proof in the mere fact of its neglect as a
trade route, or even as the route for direct communica-

REFLECTIONS AND COMPARISONS. 413

tion with the home country during the flourishing period
of the Mughal Empire in India.

Even the Afghans, those hardy and enterprising
warrior-merchants, who for successive centuries have
supplied the markets of Central Asia with the mer-
chandise of the southern countries, prefer the difficulties
of the Suleman and Hindu Kush passes — with the perils
from their robber bands, the uncertainties of battle with
their predatory tribes, and the endless exactions of their
hosts of tax-collectors — to the more terrible obstructions
of nature which face .them on the death-dealing heights
and desert plateaux of the Tibat mountains. More than
this, the very liberal expenditure and fostering protec-
tion of the paramount government during recent years
have not produced results commensurate with the means
employed in this direction for the promotion of its trade.
And I have no doubt that, were the total of expenditure
on fairs and trade commissioners, and missions, &c.,
during the past ten years, balanced against the profits
of the entire trade over the Tibat passes during the same
period, the impracticability of the route as a general
highway would derive further confirmation from the
revelations of the respective figures.

The subject is a suggestive one, and of the highest
importance to us in India on the south of these grand
barriers, because of the material interests connected with
it. And at this juncture the more especially so on ac-
count of the steady growth of the Eussian dominion
over the wide region to the north of them. The pro-
gress of Eussia there now is but a repetition on the
steppes to the north of the mountains of our own career,
not so very long ago, on the peninsula to the south of
them.

The might which was our right — we must remember

4i4 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

this point — against the Aryan nations of the south is
none the less her right against the Tatar peoples of the
north. For each on his own side gives to a kindred
race the blessings of civilisation in place of the curses of
barbarism. Each has for its object the prosperity, peace,
and freedom of its subjects, according to its own estab-
lished forms of government.

The main difference is that Britain on the south has
matured her conquest and grown up in the full vigour
of the strength acquired by a long term of tenure ;
whilst Eussia on the north is yet in the course of
growth, and lacks the vigour of maturity.

As the Sutlej and the Indus have not served to give
us a frontier on the plains of India, neither can we
expect the great rivers of the steppes of Tartary to give
them such a limit on the plains of Central Asia. As
we on the south side have been compelled to advance
to the foot of the hills, and exercise sovereign influence
over their princes on our side of the great watershed of
the Asiatic continent — the great natural division of its
northern and southern climes and nations — so may we
expect a like force to impel them on to similar positions
on its north side.

There is much to be said and studied on this most
interesting and important subject, but as the inquiry is
beyond the purpose of this work, I will content myself
with this brief allusion to it. In this place merely re-
minding the reader that the foreshadowed approximation
of the frontiers of the two great Christian powers in Asia
is an eventuality, the consummation of which cannot
be considered very remote from this time, unless indeed,
the present rate of Kussia's advance towards the interven-
ing boundary receive an unforeseen, however improbable
such may be, check. And that, what, under any circum-

FUNERAL OF STOLICZKA. 415

stances, concerns us is the proper appreciation of the
nature of our own position on this same frontier of junc-
tion, and the assurance that we are there prepared to
keep our own rights and respect theirs. If in these
points we are found to be as we ought to be, then we
may shake hands across the passes with our Northern
neighbour, and, with the rest of the Christian world,
bid him God speed in his mission of civilisation in the
greatest sinks of iniquity in all Asia.

We halted a few days at Leh, and were to have
resumed our march on the 22d June, but during the
night an express messenger arrived from Colonel
Gordon's camp with the melancholy intelligence of the
death of Dr Stoliczka at Murgi on the 19th instant, and
the information that his body was being brought on for
interment. This sad news was a great shock to us all,
for our friend and comrade had won our esteem no less
by the high order of his scientific talents than by the
genial character of his social virtues.

The body arrived during the afternoon of the 23d,
and we had the melancholy satisfaction of performing
the last offices to the remains of one whom we had
learned to admire, and whose loss we lamented.

The next day we resumed our march, and arrived at
Srinaggar on the 6th July, receiving on the way even
more abundant assistance and more assiduous attention
than on the upward journey. In fact, such a large
number of men and cattle had been withdrawn from
their usual occupations for the service of the embassy,
that the tourists who annually flock into the country
were for the time somewhat incommoded in their move-
ments.

We passed several families on our way down from
Sona Marg (where since our passage last year a couple

4i 6 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

of new houses had been built by the Kashmir authorities
for the British Commissioner), who were delayed in their
camps for want of carriage. I felt less pity for the
pleasure-seekers than for the unfortunate men who are
pressed into their service during six months of every
year, and on this occasion into ours.

Between three and four hundred European tourists
roam this country during six months of every year, and
as a rule none of them make any provision for their car-
riage. They are all dependent on the country for their
means of transport within its limits. This necessitates
the abstraction from their homes and fields of something
like six thousand men during half the year, in order
to carry their camps about from place to place ; and of
the amount of oppression it leads to few can have an
idea.

Of the hundreds of English officers and their families
who, during six months of every year, visit the Kashmir
territory and enjoy the hospitality of the Maharaja,
there are few, very few, who appreciate the benefits and
privileges they are freely accorded within the territories
of this most hospitable of Indian princes.

It is the fashion to abuse the native administration of
Kashmir, and charge it with every species of oppression
and corruption. Whether this is just or unjust I will
not take on me to say. But this I do say, that of those
who join in the outcry against the authorities of this
tributary state, there are few, if any, who consider the
part they themselves play in bringing about the very
oppression they complain of.

I resided in the valley on duty during the season of
1869, and had ample opportunity of ascertaining the
effects of our annual invasion of the country upon
the people, as well as the impression our conduct in

INVASION OF KASHMIR. 417

it made upon the strangers who, in the pursuit of
their commercial business, frequented the capital from
all the outlying countries on the north, west, and east
- men who carried away their opinion of the English-
man from what they had seen of him in Kashmir, and
spread it as the character of the nation in the cities
of Afghanistan, Turkistan, and Tibat. I observed
also the benefits and privileges we enjoyed in the
country, and the benefits we are satisfied that we
confer upon it ; and as to the last it is my posi-
tive conviction that they are outweighed by the evils
attending them.

It is needless here to enter into detail. It is enough
to say that the roaming of hundreds of Europeans, inde-
pendent of each other all over the country, necessitates
a vigilant activity on the part of the authorities, and
the employment of a large body of police officers, pur-
veyors, clerks, coolie drivers, and others to look after
their safety, attend to their wants, supply their carriage,
procure their provisions, &c. &c., in all parts of a thinly-
peopled and wild mountainous country. How well this
is done is proved by the fact that instances of insult,
robbery, or assault, are never heard of.

From my own knowledge and observation, I can state
that in no other part of India with which I am ac-
quainted (and I have travelled in the three presidencies),
not even in territory under our own administration, is
the European so promptly and cheerfully served, and so
safely protected, as he is in Kashmir, and nowhere else
does he exercise the liberty of the subject to the extent
that he does in that same territory.

Yet, notwithstanding these facts, there is a chronic
outcry against the governors of the country, and the
local English press rails at their shortcomings with a

2 D

4i 8 KASHMIR AND KASHGHAR.

vehemence unbefitting the occasion, and altogether for-
getful of their claims upon our forbearance. Our con-
duct towards Kashmir does not escape notice in the
neighbouring states, and whilst Kabul and Nepal hold
up the finger of caution saying, " Beware ! keep out the
European," others, less independent, remark on the
boldness of our words against Kashmir, and compare
it with our discreet language towards her neighbours.

To us, returning from the independent state of Kash-
ghar, the change in the character of our experiences in
point of treatment was most remarkable, and no less so
was the facility with which, on entering Kashmir, we re-
covered our conscious superiority as lords in the land. With
the Indian there was none of that air of superiority of
which we had seen so much, and which the Tatar official so
courteously appropriates in his dealings with those whom
he means to honour ; and in its absence, accommodating
ourselves to the circumstances of the case here, disap-
peared the deference it naturally drew from us as guests
in their country. In its place we here found a cheerful
readiness to meet our every wish, and a solicitous care
to provide our every want, and with these ready atten-
tions naturally returned the sense of our position as
servants of the paramount government, and we felt at
home amongst our own people. The change indeed from
Foreign to British territory was complete in other re-
spects too, and for the third time was I made practically
acquainted with the relative merits of the governments
ruling on the one side and on the other.

Beyond the border prevail disorder, oppression and
despotic caprice. The natural resources of the soil are
undeveloped, commerce struggles for bare existence,
and society is sunk in the barbarism of ignorance.
Within it are found order, prosperity, and established law.

RETURN TO MURREE. 419

The land is worked, trade is active, and the people
advance in the path of knowledge. And with such dif-
ferences between the influences of civilisation and bar-
barism, who can wish to deny to the oppressed States of
Central Asia the blessings of good government which
are pressing upon them, whether they receive them
from the north or from the south, or from both in their
just proportions ?

At Srinaggar the life and activity, the wealth and
prosperity, the freedom and enjoyment that met the eye
seemed something great by contrast with what we had
left behind us to the north of the passes. We stayed
here a couple of days as the Maharaja's (His Highness
being absent at his winter capital, Jammu) guests in the
Ranbir Bagh, where we met Mr Shaw who was on his
way up to Kashghar, accompanied by Dr Scully and an
escort of the corps of guides ; and then I accompanied
the envoy as far as Murree.

We set out on the evening of the 7th July and went
by boat to Baramulla, and thence travelled by express
" dooly dak," and arrived at Murree on the 12th July,
having left it on the 18th of the same month in the
preceding year.

The camp marched on by the regular stages, and in
due course the Embassy was dissolved, and its members,
after sending in their several official reports, dispersed
to their different departments.

THE END.

PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY
EDINBURGH AND LONDON

RETURN TO the circulation desk of any
University of California Library

or to the

NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station
University of California
Richmond, CA 94804-4698

ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS

• 2-month loans may be renewed by calling
(510)642-6753

• 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing
books to NRLF

• Renewals and recharges may be made 4
days prior to due date.

DUE AS STAMPED BELOW

DEC 2 3 1997

rJUL 2 9 2002

12,000(11/95)

WKTS

LD 21A-50m-3,'62
(C7097slO)476B

General Library

University of California

Berkeley

vc

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY